Sudan war escalates due to influx of arms into the country
The Sudan war continues to escalate as a “direct result” of the sustained influx of arms into the country, meaning that the devastating civil war is unlikely to end any time soon, according to top independent human rights investigators via Africanews on June 17th.
In an update on the emergency situation the nation is facing, the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan stressed concern over the increased use of heavy weaponry in densely populated areas, alongside a surge in sexual violence.
The investigators, whose mandate was established by the Human Rights Council in October 2023, cautioned that humanitarian aid continues to be weaponised and that hospitals and medical facilities remain under siege.
Investigator Mona Rishmawi insisted that testimonies revealed that “both sides” of the conflict are responsible for the plethora of war crimes committed. This refers to the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) who turned on each other in April 2023 after the collapse of a transition process which designed to implement civilian rule. One area where this is brutally evident is around the city of El Fasher in Darfur, where civilians have been “assaulted, detained and killed while villages have been attacked, burned and looted” by the RSF.
Over 100 civilians were reportedly killed in an RSF attack which lasted from 10th to 13th April, while at least 15 civilians were killed in Al Koma by an SAF bombing.
The fact-finding mission documented widespread retaliation between late 2024 and mid-2025 in areas recaptured by the SAF, including the capital Khartoum, Gezira, and Sennar.
The war, which is in its third year, has killed at least 24,000 people including tens of thousands of civilians. It has also displaced roughly 13 million Sudanese and subjected many more to a wide range atrocities, including sexual violence, looting, and the destruction of homes, health facilities, markets, universities, and more.
The fact-finding mission explained that humanitarian relief has been weaponised as the SAF had imposed “bureaucratic restrictions, while the RSF has looted convoys and blocked aid entirely.” The consequences of these acts have driven numerous areas of Sudan into famine, “especially in Darfur.” These details were reported by respected human rights experts who participated in the investigations.
The mission condemned the bombing of a UN aid convoy in Al Koma heading to El Fasher which killed five staff members on June 2nd. It added that the RSF had shelled the Saudi hospital located in El Fasher 12 times. One of the last functioning health clinics in the North Kordofan region was shut down in May following an RSF drone strike on Obeid International Hospital, which killed six civilians. Mona Rishmawi warned that these attacks are “crippling the delivery of aid in a lot of these communities.”
In the most recent update to the Human Rights Council, the mission documented a surge in sexual and gender-based violence, with women and girls subjected to rape, gang rape, abduction, sexual slavery, and forced marriage. These atrocities have mostly occurred in RSF-controlled displacement camps.
Africa news, Maghrebi.org
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