UN Human Rights Council debates resolution for fact-finding mission on RSF atrocities in al-Fashir, Sudan, amid ethnic killings and rape allegations.
GENEVA: The UN Human Rights Council held an emergency session on Friday to address the situation in al-Fashir, Sudan.
Delegates considered a draft resolution requesting a fact-finding mission into reported mass killings as the Darfur city fell to paramilitary forces.
The proposed mission would identify perpetrators of violations allegedly committed by the Rapid Support Forces and their allies.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk urged the international community to take action against “naked cruelty”.
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“There has been too much pretence and performance, and too little action,” Turk told delegates.
He also called for action against individuals and companies “fuelling and profiting” from Sudan’s civil war.
Turk issued a stark warning about surging violence in Kordofan, citing bombardments, blockades and forced displacement.
The draft resolution strongly condemns reported ethnically motivated killings and rape as a weapon of war by the RSF.
It stops short of mandating an investigation into external actors potentially supporting the RSF.
Sudan’s ambassador to Geneva criticised this omission, describing the conflict as an “existential war”.
“We were warning all over the UN… calling for pressure on the rebel militia and the country that is sponsoring it with military equipment – I mean the UAE,” Hassan Hamid Hassan said.
The United Arab Emirates vigorously denied supplying weapons to the RSF.
UK, EU, Norway and Ghana expressed support for the resolution, warning the violence threatens regional stability.
“Staying silent is not an option… The Council must deliver a clear message, impunity will not be tolerated,” said British ambassador Kumar Iyer.
The resolution calls on both warring parties to allow life-saving aid into the famine-struck city.
Women fleeing al-Fashir have reported killings, systematic rape and civilians being shot in streets. – Reuters
