Sudan's Rapid Support Forces Attack Kordofan, UN Warns of Impending Mass Atrocities

Kordofan fighting and abuses

UN officials and rights monitors say fierce fighting between Sudan's Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) has spread into Kordofan states, prompting urgent warnings of mass atrocities and growing humanitarian needs.

UN human rights chief Volker Türk warned that Sudan risks 'another El Fasher' as the conflict spreads into the oil-rich Kordofan region.

UN agencies stressed that humanitarian access must be allowed to besieged cities including Kadugli and Dilling, with more than 44,000 people reported to have fled Kordofan amid the fighting.

Rights offices and news reports document widespread abuses, including retaliatory killings, arbitrary detention, abductions, sexual violence and forced recruitment, heightening fears of further atrocities against civilians across the region.

Atrocities in Kordofan and Darfur

Human-rights organisations, notably Amnesty International, have documented a catalogue of atrocities in Kordofan and neighboring Darfur.

They focus on a large-scale assault on Zamzam camp in North Darfur that investigators say involved explosives in populated areas, indiscriminate gunfire, arson, looting and acts that may amount to rape and pillage.

Amnesty's report, summarised by CitiNewsroom and reported by Dabanga and France 24, says at least 47 people were fatally shot during the April assault.

The report says roughly 400,000 residents were forced to flee the camp and Amnesty has called for a war-crimes investigation into the attack.

Civilian toll and displacement

Coverage describes the human cost on different scales: some reports document local massacres and specific fatalities, while UN agencies and migration bodies record mass displacement and denied access to besieged towns.

The National Tribune cites the UN Human Rights Office saying at least 269 civilians were killed since 25 October after the RSF seized Bara in North Kordofan.

UN and AP reporting highlight tens of thousands fleeing Kordofan and urgent access needs for famine-hit cities, while Amnesty’s Zamzam figures — including roughly 400,000 people forced to flee that camp — illustrate how single events can generate large, concentrated displacement.

Reported abuses in Kordofan

Multiple outlets and rights monitors warn that abuses reported in Kordofan mirror patterns previously seen in Darfur and El Fasher, including encirclement, close-range mass killings, forced recruitment, and sexual violence.

An Al-Jazeera Net team reported RSF fighters 'herding people in one direction and then encircling them to carry out close-range mass killings' and concluded the evidence suggested a systematic genocide beginning with the Masalit.

UN and TRT reports reiterate the risk of similar large-scale atrocities and catalogue abuses such as arbitrary detention and hate speech that amplify the danger.

Accountability vs Humanitarian Access

Rights groups and some local reports call for accountability and international measures.

Amnesty and its interlocutors have urged war-crimes investigations into the Zamzam assault.

Dabanga accuses international partners, naming the UAE, of fuelling the conflict by supplying arms and calls for expanding the Darfur arms embargo.

UN agencies and mainstream outlets focus on securing humanitarian access to besieged towns and tracking displacement to prevent famine and further civilian harm.

These differences show a split between sources prioritising legal accountability and naming alleged international enablers, and those stressing immediate lifesaving access and displacement monitoring.