July 3, 2026, 11:55 amJuly 3, 2026, 11:55 am
UN High Commissioner Volker Türk fears a wave of atrocities in the embattled city of El Obeid in the civil war-torn country of Sudan.
UN High Commissioner Volker Türk sees unmistakable signs of a new human rights catastrophe.Image: keystone
The signs are unmistakable, said the head of the UN human rights office in Geneva. “A new human rights catastrophe is looming in Sudan,” said Türk.
He spoke at the United Nations Human Rights Council. The panel held an urgent debate on the situation in El Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan state. The region is currently the center of fighting between the RSF militia and the government army SAF. In recent weeks, the RSF has concentrated its troops around El Obeid.
Türk remembers 6,000 deaths in three days last year
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights recalled that last year at least 6,000 people were killed in three days when the RSF took the city of Al-Fashir. The RSF and allied militias committed war crimes and crimes against humanity, such as mass killings, sexual violence and torture.
“We have a red alert,” said Türk about the possible capture of the city of El Obeid, where more than half a million people live. Heads of state and government around the world must now do everything they can to prevent further atrocities, he said.
The debate in the Human Rights Council took place at the initiative of several European countries. «The world is watching closely. Nobody will be able to avoid their responsibility,” said Antje Leendertse, Germany’s UN ambassador in Geneva. The people in El Obeid are not numbers, but “families, children and people who don’t want this war,” she said. (hkl/sda/dpa)