The United Nations warned Wednesday of retaliatory attacks against civilians in Sudan’s El Gezira state, saying the reports raised “grave concerns about flagrant violations” of international law.
The Sudanese army, at war with rival paramilitaries since April 2023, led an advance this week on El Gezira, recapturing the state capital Wad Madani from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Rights groups have reported army-allied militias leading ethnic-based attacks on minority communities in the agricultural state, killing at least 13 people including two children.
The UN’s resident and humanitarian coordinator in Sudan, Clementine Nkweta-Salami, said “reprisals and acts of violence against civilian populations and civilian objects are prohibited by international humanitarian law”.
Local rights groups report that Kanabi communities — residents of informal settlements and traditionally seasonal agricultural workers from other parts of Sudan — were accused of collaborating with the RSF, which controlled Al-Jazira for over a year.
The Kanabi Congress, an advocacy group, has blamed the attack on the Sudan Shield Forces, a group commanded by Abu Aqla Kaykal.
Last year, he defected to the army’s side after serving as the RSF’s El Gezira commander.
The foreign ministry of South Sudan, which seceded in 2011, said Wednesday a number of its citizens were killed in incidents “following the recapture of Wad Madani”.
Though the RSF has become notorious for alleged ethnic-based violence — leading the United States last week to accuse it of genocide — reports have also emerged of civilians being targeted on the basis of ethnicity in army-controlled areas.
Both the army and the RSF have been accused of war crimes, including targeting civilians and indiscriminately shelling residential areas.
On Wednesday, the UN children’s agency said youth in Sudan were being exposed to “unconscionable violence”, with at least two dozen children killed within a week in the capital.
“Since the conflict broke out in April 2023, thousands of children have been killed or injured, and sexual violence and child recruitment have been widely reported, with devastating consequences,” UNICEF’s regional director Edouard Beigbeder said.
The war has killed tens of thousands of people, uprooted over 12 million and pushed hundreds of thousands into famine conditions.
