UN OFFICIALS HAVE warned that “large-scale atrocities” are underway in Sudan’s Kordofan region as paramilitary forces advance, while residents in El-Fasher, a key city in the neighbouring Darfur region, were being subjected to mass “horror.”

El-Fasher, the last major city in Darfur to fall to Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitaries was “already the scene of catastrophic levels of human suffering (but) has descended into an even darker hell,” said the UN’s humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher.

The capture of El-Fasher comes after more than 18 months of brutal siege and has sparked fears of a return to the ethnically targeted atrocities of 20 years ago.

There had been “credible reports of widespread executions after Rapid Support Forces fighters entered the city,” Fletcher said.

“We cannot hear the screams, but – as we sit here today – the horror is continuing. Women and girls are being raped, people being mutilated and killed with utter impunity.”

Fletcher warned that the killing was not limited to Darfur and that there was bloodshed underway in Kordofan province.

“Fierce fighting in North Kordofan State is driving new waves of displacement and endangering the humanitarian response, including around the state capital, El Obeid,” Fletcher told the UN Security Council.

Martha Pobee, the Assistant UN Secretary-General for Africa, told the council “there are also reports of large-scale atrocities perpetrated by the Rapid Support Forces in Bara, in North Kordofan, following the recent capture of the city.”

“These included reprisals against so-called ‘collaborators,’ which are often ethnically motivated,” she said.

At least 50 civilians were killed in recent days in Bara both in fighting and executions, including five Red Crescent volunteers, she said.

Kordofan “is likely the next arena of military focus for the warring parties,” she warned.

“Drone strikes by both parties are also affecting new territories and new targets… suggesting that the territorial scope of the conflict is broadening.”

Pobee said it was impossible to estimate the number of victims in El-Fasher, blaming a “chaotic” situation.

The war in Sudan has claimed tens of thousands of lives, displaced millions, and triggered the world’s worst ongoing humanitarian crisis, according to the UN.

It began in April 2023 amid a power struggle between two former allies, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, commander of the army and de facto leader of Sudan since a 2021 coup, and General Mohammad Hamdan Daglo, head of the RSF.

- © AFP 2025