All parties to the conflict continued to commit serious violations and abuses of international human rights law, and violations of international humanitarian law, resulting in mass civilian casualties. States supplied weapons to the warring parties, including in Darfur, in violation of a UN Security Council arms embargo. Women and girls were subjected to widespread conflict-related sexual violence. Looting and destruction of civilian property violated economic, social and cultural rights. A near-total telecommunications blackout restricted the right to freedom of expression and the ability of humanitarian organizations to deliver aid. Impunity persisted for conflict-related violations and abuses. Millions of people were internally displaced or had sought refuge in neighbouring countries since April 2023 and lived in dire conditions. Egyptian authorities forcibly returned hundreds of Sudanese refugees to Sudan.
Background
The armed conflict that erupted in April 2023 in the capital, Khartoum, between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) continued to spread to various parts of the country, including Gezira, Sennar and North Darfur states. During this period, armed groups and actors joined the conflict, aligning themselves either with the SAF or RSF.
Despite multiple political processes, fighting intensified throughout the year. The international community including the UN Security Council and the AU did not take adequate measures to protect civilians, end violations or disrupt the supply of weapons and other support to the warring sides.
Violations of international humanitarian law
Many civilians were caught in the crossfire as the SAF and RSF, along with other militias and armed groups, launched attacks in and from civilian populated areas, often using explosive weapons with wide-area effects. According to the UN by December, more than 27,000 people had been killed and over 33,000 injured since April 2023, the majority civilians, by air strikes, heavy artillery shelling, and ground attacks on their homes and villages.
Following the defection on 20 October to the SAF of Abu Aqla Keikel, a former RSF commander in Gezira state, the RSF launched retaliatory attacks on many towns and villages in eastern Gezira state, including Tamboul, Rufaa, Al-Hilaliya, Al-Seriha and Al-Uzibah. The RSF targeted people in their homes, in markets and on the streets. The UN reported that, between 20 and 26 October, at least 124 civilians were killed, dozens more were injured and about 119,400 were displaced from Gezira state; there were at least 25 cases of sexual violence reported in several villages in east Gezira.
Irresponsible arms transfers
In September the UN Security Council extended for another year an arms embargo in place since 2004 which applies only to the Darfur region. It failed to expand the embargo to the rest of Sudan. The existing arms embargo had been poorly implemented and frequently violated and was wholly inadequate to meet the needs of the current crisis.
The conflict continued to be fuelled by an almost unimpeded supply of weapons and ammunition to Sudan, including to Darfur, by states and corporate actors around the world. States and various armed groups in Sudan used neighbouring countries as supply lines for weapons transfers into and around the country.1
Large quantities of recently manufactured weapons and military equipment from China, Russia, Türkiye and the United Arab Emirates, among other countries, were imported into Sudan, and diverted or otherwise smuggled to Darfur where there was a substantial risk of them being used for serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law.
Some companies in Russia and Türkiye exported variants of small arms, typically sold to the civilian market, to arms dealers with strong links to the SAF. In addition, hundreds of thousands of blank guns (less lethal weapons) were exported to Sudan by companies in Türkiye along with millions of blank cartridges for likely conversion into lethal weapons.
Sexual and gender-based violence
Women and girls continued to be subjected to conflict-related sexual violence. The UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan (FFM) found that sexual and gender-based violence, in particular rape and gang rape, was widespread across Sudan. It also found that RSF members perpetrated sexual violence on a large scale during attacks on cities in the Darfur region and in Greater Khartoum.
In many instances the RSF raped and gang-raped women and girls in front of their family members, particularly in the Darfur region and in Gezira state. In one case, on 27 May, three RSF soldiers gang-raped a woman in the South Thoura neighbourhood of El Fasher city, North Darfur, in front of her husband and five-year-old son.
Internally displaced people’s rights
The escalating conflict proved increasingly devastating for civilians.
Over 11 million people were internally displaced, of whom 8.6 million had been displaced since April 2023, making Sudan the scene of the largest displacement crisis worldwide. Increasing numbers of people were forced to flee their homes during the year, exacerbating the already dire humanitarian situation.
Refugees’ and migrants’ rights
Since April 2023, more than 3.2 million people had fled to neighbouring Central African Republic, Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia, Libya and South Sudan, where they lived in dire conditions.
Egypt’s Border Guard Forces and police, operating under the defence and interior ministries respectively, carried out mass arbitrary arrests and held women, men and children in cruel and inhuman conditions pending their forced return to Sudan. Between January and March, Egyptian authorities forcibly returned an estimated 800 Sudanese nationals in 12 incidents without conducting individualized assessments or granting them their right to claim international protection or challenge deportation decisions (see Egypt entry). These returns coincided with the spread of the conflict to Gezira and Sennar states, and other areas, forcing many returnees to flee again to Egypt or elsewhere.
Economic, social and cultural rights
The UN reported famine conditions in Zamzam IDP (internally displaced people) camp in North Darfur which hosted more than 400,000 people. Acute food insecurity reached record levels across Sudan, affecting 25.6 million people, more than half the population. This was exacerbated by rising food prices, especially in areas where famine conditions were reported. In El Fasher locality, prices of sorghum and millet had more than tripled since 2023, while wheat prices more than doubled.
The FFM reported that looting and destruction of property, mainly by the RSF and its allies, affected non-Arab communities, particularly the Masalit. The livelihoods of these communities were undermined as was civilian infrastructure, including shelters, food and water sources, health systems, water stations, and public offices and facilities. The FFM concluded that these acts violated the economic, social and cultural rights of the civilian population, particularly their rights to physical and mental health, and to food, water and housing.
Right to information
A near-total communication blackout following a telecommunications shutdown in early February restricted the right to freedom of expression and posed serious risks to the coordination of emergency assistance and humanitarian services to millions of people caught up in the conflict. According to the NGO Access Now, prior to the shutdown the RSF had gained control of internet service providers’ data centres in Khartoum.
On 7 February the NGO Netblocks reported that Zain, the main mobile telephone operator, fell “largely offline”. Internet disruptions continued throughout the year in many regions. The disruption left human rights monitors and defenders unable to document human rights abuses and violations.
Meanwhile, Sudanese people in the diaspora and those coordinating emergency responses on the ground were unable to send or transfer money to and within Sudan via mobile banking applications – one of the few remaining means of transferring funds. Sometimes, when money was transferred, recipients were unable to access the funds.
Right to truth, justice and reparation
Impunity persisted for conflict-related violations and abuses. Three men facing ICC charges, including former president Omar al-Bashir, were yet to be handed over to the ICC for trial.
In August the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights passed a resolution to establish a joint fact-finding mission with the AU Department of Political Affairs, Peace and Security into the human rights situation in Sudan and to publish its findings within three months. No findings or recommendations were released by the end of the year.
The FFM’s first report, published in September, found that the SAF and RSF committed war crimes and that the RSF had also committed crimes against humanity. The report proposed recommendations for accountability and access to justice for victims, including: expanding the ICC’s jurisdiction beyond Darfur to the entire country, establishing an international judicial mechanism, increasing the use by states of universal jurisdiction, and the establishment of a truth commission and a victim support and reparations office. In October a UN Human Rights Council resolution extended the FFM’s mandate for another year.
