GENEVA - A broad group of Western and allied nations raised urgent alarm at the U.N. Human Rights Council that Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces - known as the RSF - could imminently escalate an assault on the central city of al-Obeid, potentially producing large-scale atrocities against civilians.
"We are deeply concerned at the risk of imminent escalation on the ground, leaving approximately 500,000 civilians at risk of falling victim to large-scale atrocities, including more than 100,000 internally displaced persons," Tormod Endresen, Norway's ambassador, told the council in Geneva.
Norway delivered a joint statement on behalf of the Coalition for Atrocity Prevention and Justice for Sudan, a group that lists Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands and Norway among its members. The coalition said it was also joined by 21 other countries in urging the RSF to immediately cease its assault on al-Obeid.
The coalition further called on all states to exert maximum pressure on both the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces to prevent atrocities and protect civilians, and it reiterated the need for unhindered humanitarian access to affected areas.
Al-Obeid - one of Sudan's largest cities and the capital of North Kordofan state - has been the focus of some of the heaviest fighting in recent months. The conflict has displaced nearly 14 million people nationwide, driven cycles of ethnic violence and contributed to famine and the spread of disease, according to the coalition's statement.
After more than three years of war in Sudan, the Sudanese army controls central and eastern regions, while the RSF has consolidated its control over Darfur in the west. The two forces are contesting the vast Kordofan region that lies between those areas - a territory described in the joint statement as crucial to agriculture.
The coalition said it was "gravely alarmed by the urgent risks of atrocities and deliberate killings in Sudan," citing a sequence of 10 consecutive days of drone strikes that have killed at least 50 civilians across al-Obeid and North Kordofan and that have damaged civilian infrastructure.
In October, the RSF captured al-Fashir, a major city in Sudan's Darfur region. That famine-affected city - once home to around 1 million people - had been under siege for 18 months prior to the final RSF offensive, which began on October 25.
The statement also noted accusations by the United States and human rights groups that the RSF carried out genocide against non-Arabs in West Darfur during the course of the conflict. The RSF has denied responsibility for ethnically motivated killings and has said that those responsible for abuses will be held to account.
The coalition's presentation at the Human Rights Council underscores the international concern about a potential new phase of violence centered on al-Obeid and its surrounding areas, and reflects broader anxieties about the conflict's humanitarian toll and threats to civilian life and essential infrastructure.
With hundreds of thousands of residents at risk, the coalition urged tangible action by states to avert further deterioration and to facilitate lifesaving assistance where it is required.