SUDAN’S brutal civil war has claimed the lives of at least 3,384 civilians in the first six months of 2024, representing nearly 80% of all civilian casualties documented for the entire previous year, according to a new United Nations human rights report released.
The death toll marks a dramatic escalation in what has become the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, with UN officials warning that the real number of casualties is likely significantly higher than those they could verify.
“Our report finds that the conflict-driven crisis has intensified, pointing to a rise in civilian killings, including summary executions, amid growing ethnic violence and a worsening humanitarian situation,” said Jeremy Laurence, UN Human Rights spokesperson.
Most deaths occurred in Sudan’s Darfur region, followed by Kordofan and the capital Khartoum, as fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) continues to devastate civilian areas.
Mass Casualty Events
The report documents several particularly deadly offensives that killed hundreds of civilians. In April, an RSF assault on El Fasher and the surrounding areas in North Darfur resulted in at least 527 deaths, including more than 270 people in displacement camps at Zamzam and Abu Shouk.
The deadliest single incident occurred in March when SAF airstrikes hit the Tora market in North Darfur, killing at least 350 civilians, including 13 members of one family.
Seventy percent of civilian casualties occurred during active combat operations, as both sides launched attacks in densely populated areas using artillery, airstrikes and drones, according to the UN.
Summary Executions Surge
Beyond combat deaths, the report documented the unlawful killing of at least 990 civilians outside of hostilities, including summary executions that tripled between February and April.
The surge followed SAF forces recapturing territory from the RSF in late March, leading to apparent reprisal campaigns against alleged “collaborators.”
“One witness who observed SAF search operations in civilian neighbourhoods in East Nile, Khartoum, between March and April, said that he saw children as young as 14 or 15 years of age, accused of being RSF members, summarily killed,” Laurence said.
The RSF also conducted summary executions as SAF forces advanced. Video footage obtained by UN Human Rights shows RSF fighters executing at least 30 males in civilian dress, including apparent children, in Al Salha, Omdurman on April 27, after accusing them of SAF affiliation.
Trapped in El Fasher
The situation remains particularly dire in El Fasher, where civilians face impossible choices between staying and risking bombardment or fleeing through dangerous escape routes.
“Civilians are trapped in a situation of impossible choices: stay in El Fasher, and risk bombardment, starvation, and atrocities if the RSF overrun the city; or flee, and face the risk of summary execution, sexual violence, and abduction,” said Li Fung, UN Human Rights Sudan Representative.
UN investigators interviewed more than 150 victims and witnesses who fled to eastern Chad, documenting systematic violations including ethnically motivated killings, targeting of health workers, abductions, and widespread sexual violence against women and girls.
“I realised that RSF soldiers were everywhere on the road to Tawila, and that I was going to be raped no matter what,” one Zamzam camp survivor told UN investigators.
Accountability Urged
UN officials called for urgent action to end the cycle of violence and hold perpetrators accountable for what they characterised as war crimes and atrocity crimes.
“This violence, in all of its vile forms, must end. Impunity continues to drive cycles of violations and abuses,” Laurence said. “Sudan’s conflict is a forgotten one, and we hope that this report puts the spotlight on this disastrous situation.”
The conflict has displaced millions of people and created acute food insecurity across the country, with cholera outbreaks adding to the humanitarian catastrophe that began when fighting erupted in April 2023 between the two rival military factions.
