UN investigators: Sudan witnesses serious violations including torture and gang rape

UN investigators said Tuesday they had documented "disturbing patterns" of serious abuses against people caught up in war violence in Sudan, including "horrific killings, sexual violence and gang rape" as well as "torture and enforced disappearances."

The United Nations Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Sudan said it spent three weeks in Chad, meeting survivors of the conflict in Sudan, members of Sudanese civil society and observers.

The team of investigators said in a statement that the people they spoke to had detailed accounts of "horrific killings and sexual violence, including gang rape." Mission member Mona Rishmawi called for "an end to these atrocities and for their perpetrators to be held accountable."

The mission, established by the UN Human Rights Council late last year to investigate alleged human rights violations and abuses and violations of international humanitarian law, also referred to the occurrence of "arbitrary detention, torture and enforced disappearances", in addition to "looting, burning of homes and the use of child soldiers".

The investigators noted that many of the violations appeared to target professionals, such as lawyers, human rights defenders, teachers and doctors in particular, declaring that "forced displacement was a common denominator."

Independent experts who do not speak for the United Nations called on the international community to step up efforts to end the war. "This crisis requires the support of the entire international community," said mission head Mohamed Chande Osman.

Since mid-April 2023, the Sudanese army, led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces, led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemeti), have been waging a war that has left about 15,000 dead, according to the United Nations. International and UN calls have increased to spare Sudan a humanitarian catastrophe that could push millions to famine and death, due to food shortages caused by the fighting that has spread to 12 of the country’s 18 states.