UN official warns of possible war crimes, rape as a weapon in Sudan
Al Jazeera
UN human rights chief says humanitarian aid is being blocked and sexual violence is being used as a weapon of war.
The United Nations human rights chief has said that the apparent deliberate denial of safe access for humanitarian agencies within war-torn Sudan could amount to a war crime.
“Sudan has become a living nightmare. Almost half of the population – 25 million people – are in urgent need of food and medical aid. Some 80 percent of hospitals have been put out of service,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, said on Friday.
The Sudan crisis “continues to be marked by an insidious disregard for human life”, he told the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, saying that many of the violations of international humanitarian law committed by the warring parties “may amount to war crimes, or other atrocity crimes”.
The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has been fighting Sudan’s army for control of the country since April last year in a war that has killed thousands, displaced millions inside and outside the country, and sparked warnings of famine.
Both sides “have killed thousands, seemingly without remorse”, Turk said, noting the use of heavy artillery, even in densely populated urban areas.
