UN ‘alarmed’ at reported summary executions of civilians in Sudan

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk addresses a press conference in Geneva, on December 6, 2023. (AFP)
Short Url
Updated 01 February 2025
Follow

UN ‘alarmed’ at reported summary executions of civilians in Sudan

  • After months of apparent stalemate in Khartoum, the army last week broke an almost two-year RSF siege of its Khartoum General Command headquarters.

GENEVA: The UN rights chief said Friday that he was “deeply alarmed” by reports of summary executions of civilians in Khartoum North, allegedly by Sudanese army fighters and allied militia.
“Deliberately taking the life of a civilian or anyone not or no longer directly taking part in hostilities is a war crime,” Volker Turk said in a statement.
The war between Sudan’s army (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) since April 2023 has killed tens of thousands of people and uprooted more than 12 million, according to the United Nations, and pushed millions to the brink of famine.
After months of apparent stalemate in Khartoum, the army last week broke an almost two-year RSF siege of its Khartoum General Command headquarters.
On the same day, the army reported reclaiming its Signal Corps base in Khartoum North, and expelling the RSF from the Jaili oil refinery north of Khartoum.
The UN rights office said it had verified the killings of at least 18 people, including one woman, in seven separate incidents “attributed to SAF-affiliated fighters and militia since the SAF regained control of the area on 25 January.”

BACKGROUND

After months of apparent stalemate in Khartoum, Sudan’s army broke an almost two-year RSF siege of its Khartoum General Command headquarters last week.

“Many of the victims of these incidents, which took place in the vicinity the Al Jaili oil refinery, were originally from the Darfur or Kordofan regions of Sudan,” it said.
The rights office also highlighted “further disturbing allegations emanating from Khartoum North,” which it was still corroborating.
It noted a video circulated Thursday showing men in SAF uniform and members of the Al Baraa Bin Malik Brigade in Khartoum North “reading out a long list of names of alleged RSF collaborators, saying ‘Zaili’ — Arabic for ‘killed’ — after each name.”
“These reports of summary executions, following similar incidents earlier this month in Al Jazirah State, are deeply disturbing,” Turk said, adding that “such killings must not become normalized.”
He reiterated his call for “all parties to the conflict to take urgent action to protect civilians and to uphold obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law.”
“Independent investigations must be held into these incidents in line with relevant international standards.”
The rights office voiced fear of further attacks “amid shocking threats of violence against civilians.”
It said it had reviewed a video showing a member of the Al Baraa Bin Malik Brigade “threatening to slaughter the residents of El Hadj Yusif in East Nile,” an area of Khartoum North.
The office also denounced continued RSF attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure, including the shelling of a camp for displaced people in El-Fasher in North Darfur that killed nine civilians on Wednesday.
And on January 24, a drone attack on a maternity hospital in El-Fasher, attributed to the RSF, left at least 67 dead and 19 injured, it said.
“Deliberate attacks on civilians and civilian objects are abhorrent,” Turk said.
“Such attacks constitute serious violations of international humanitarian law and may constitute war crimes.”

 


US designates Yemen’s Houthis ‘foreign terrorist organization’

Updated 21 sec ago
Follow

US designates Yemen’s Houthis ‘foreign terrorist organization’

WASHINGTON: The US State Department on Tuesday said it was designating Yemen’s Houthi movement, known formally as Ansar Allah, as a “foreign terrorist organization,” after US President Donald Trump’s call for the move earlier this year.

More to follow...


Palestinian president welcomes Egyptian plan to rebuild Gaza

Updated 2 min 12 sec ago
Follow

Palestinian president welcomes Egyptian plan to rebuild Gaza

Abbas also said he was ready to hold presidential and parliamentary elections if circumstances allow

CAIRO: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbad said on Tuesday he welcomed an Egyptian plan to rebuild the Gaza Strip and urged US President Donald Trump to support such a plan that would not involve displacing Palestinian residents of the enclave.
Speaking at an Arab League summit that aims to counter Trump’s “Gaza Riviera” plan, Abbas also said he was ready to hold presidential and parliamentary elections if circumstances allow, adding his Palestinian Authority was the only legitimate governing and military force in the Palestinian Territories.
Abbas said that he would issue a general amnesty for all those dismissed from the Fatah movement which rules the West Bank.

UN’s Guterres supports Arab-led efforts to mobilize support for Gaza’s reconstruction

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres. (File/AFP)
Updated 3 min 17 sec ago
Follow

UN’s Guterres supports Arab-led efforts to mobilize support for Gaza’s reconstruction

  • Speaking at the Cairo summit, Guterres also called for the resumption “without delay” of negotiations on continuing a ceasefire in Gaza
  • He also expressed concern over an escalation of violence in the West Bank

CAIRO: United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres said on Tuesday he supported an Arab-led initiative to mobilize support for reconstruction of the Gaza Strip.
Egypt presented a plan for reconstruction of the Palestinian enclave on Tuesday at an Arab League summit in Cairo. The plan, seen by Reuters, aims to counter US President Donald Trump’s proposal to build a Middle East “Riviera” in the Gaza Strip.
Speaking at the Cairo summit, Guterres also called for the resumption “without delay” of negotiations on continuing a ceasefire in Gaza, and he expressed concern over an escalation of violence in the West Bank.


Palestinian president meets Syrian counterpart for first time since Assad’s fall

Updated 25 min 20 sec ago
Follow

Palestinian president meets Syrian counterpart for first time since Assad’s fall

  • Mahmoud Abbas, Ahmad Al-Sharaa meet in Cairo on sidelines of emergency Arab summit
  • Both leaders oppose Israeli policies that threaten to further encroach on their territory

LONDON: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has met the president of the Syrian Arab Republic for the first time since the change of power in Damascus last December.

Abbas and Ahmad Al-Sharaa met in Cairo on the sidelines of an emergency Arab summit that will focus on the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip and oppose US President Donald Trump’s proposal to displace Palestinians in Gaza and “take over” the enclave.

Abbas and Al-Sharaa discussed the latest developments in the occupied West Bank and stressed that the Gaza Strip was an integral part of Palestine’s territory.

Abbas said that the priorities were to maintain the ceasefire in Gaza, provide aid, and for Israeli forces to withdraw from the enclave, according to the Palestine News Agency.

Both Abbas and Al-Sharaa are opposing Israeli policies that threaten to further encroach on their territory. The Israeli government’s expansion of settlements in the West Bank, the displacement of thousands of Palestinians from refugee camps, and its plans to annex part of the territory jeopardize the possibility of establishing a Palestinian state.

Following the fall of Bashar Assad’s regime in December, Israeli forces have occupied parts of the southern Syrian region, including the strategically important summit of Mount Hermon, shattering a decades-long agreement.

Hussein Al-Sheikh, the secretary-general of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, and Diab Al-Louh, the Palestinian ambassador to Egypt, were also present at the meeting.


Sudan’s RSF signs ‘transitional constitution’: alliance member

Updated 04 March 2025
Follow

Sudan’s RSF signs ‘transitional constitution’: alliance member

  • “The constitutional document was signed in Nairobi last night by all parties involved in the signing of the founding charter,” said Ahmed Tuqud Lisan
  • The next step would be to form the government, which will “be announced inside Sudan“

NAIROBI: Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and its allies have signed a constitution paving the way for the formation of a parallel government, a member of its coalition said Tuesday.
“The constitutional document was signed in Nairobi last night by all parties involved in the signing of the founding charter,” Ahmed Tuqud Lisan, a member of the preparatory committee of the Sudan Founding Alliance told AFP.
For nearly two years, the RSF and the regular army have been in a devastating war that has uprooted more than 12 million people and caused what the United Nations calls the world’s worst hunger and displacement crises.
Last week, the RSF and its alliance of political and military partners signed a charter vowing to establish a “government of peace and unity” in rebel-controlled areas of Sudan.
The “transitional constitution” signed on Monday documents the “tasks of the transitional period, the decentralized governing system and the structures of the executive authority,” Lisan said.
The next step would be to form the government, which will “be announced inside Sudan,” he added.
Kenya has been criticized for hosting the RSF and its allies, with Sudan’s army-aligned government recalling its ambassador in protest last month.
Sudan’s foreign ministry accused Kenyan President William Ruto of acting on “his commercial and personal interests with the militia’s regional sponsors.”
The RSF’s constitution, seen by AFP, was signed by 24 signatories including RSF deputy Abdel Rahim Dagalo.
The war between the RSF and the army has torn the country in two, with the army controlling the north and east, while the RSF holds nearly all of the western region of Darfur and swathes of the south.