UN Sounds ‘Red Alert’ as Catastrophe Looms Over Sudan’s El-Obeid
GENEVA — The United Nations’ human rights chief sounded a rare “red alert” on Friday, warning that the Sudanese city of El-Obeid faces an imminent paramilitary assault that could trigger another wave of atrocities in the country’s brutal civil war.
Addressing an urgent debate at the UN Human Rights Council, Volker Türk called on world leaders to take immediate action to prevent what he described as a “catastrophe” already unfolding. “The signs from El-Obeid are clear and unmistakable: another human rights catastrophe is unfolding in Sudan,” he said.
For 18 months, civilians in the North Kordofan capital have endured siege-like conditions, battered by relentless drone strikes as the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) battle for control of key territory. “This is not a drill. It is a red alert that needs to land on the desks of heads of state and government around the world,” Türk added. “Their phones should be running hot in the coming days.”
The UN’s top rights body convened the rare urgent debate at the request of Britain, backed by a group of countries. In recent days, the UN, several governments, and aid organizations have warned of a possible RSF offensive on El-Obeid, a city of half a million people that also hosts nearly 100,000 refugees displaced by the broader conflict.
The civil war erupted in April 2023 between the regular army and the RSF, with the fertile and oil-rich region of Kordofan emerging as a key battleground. El-Obeid sits on a strategic route linking RSF-held areas in western Darfur to army-controlled regions in the east, making it a critical prize for both sides.
In recent weeks, the city has faced its most intense RSF attacks yet. The army has struggled to stop the paramilitary group from reimposing a blockade through drone strikes targeting the city and the main road out. Recent strikes have hit the main power station and fuel depots, plunging neighborhoods into darkness and shutting down water pumps.
Türk expressed fear of “a repeat of the widespread atrocities” documented during the RSF offensive on El-Fasher in North Darfur last year, in which at least 6,000 people were killed, according to his office. The UN’s independent fact-finding mission on Sudan concluded in February that the siege and capture of El-Fasher had inflicted “three days of absolute horror” and bore “the hallmarks of genocide.”
“The leaders of the warring parties bear the greatest responsibility for three years of appalling suffering,” Türk said, “but behind them, foreign players are benefiting from the carnage.”
Britain, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Norway have presented a draft resolution to the 47-member council, set for a vote on Monday. The text strongly condemns escalating RSF violence in and around El-Obeid and calls for “an immediate and complete ceasefire by all parties.”
Britain’s representative, Eleanor Sanders, told the council that the RSF had “raped, pillaged, and murdered their way through El-Fasher.” Now, she warned, “El-Obeid is on the precipice of an atrocity” and the council “must act with urgency to help prevent further harm to civilians.”
Speaking from Port Sudan, the International Organization for Migration’s mission chief in the country, Mohamed Refaat, said civilians were being deliberately targeted. “If we don’t act now to stop what is happening in El-Obeid, we will see another El-Fasher. We will see another displacement of maybe 500,000 or more,” he told journalists.
Pressed on whether humanitarians had the resources to handle such a scenario, Refaat replied bluntly: “Absolutely not. Our system has been depleted from every resource.”