Rights violations in Sudan 'verging on pure evil' amid escalating conflict, warns UN

The UN warned Friday of soaring human rights violations in Sudan's Darfur region and said they were "verging on pure evil," amid escalating fighting seven months into the war between the army and paramilitaries.

"We keep saying that the situation is horrific and grim. But frankly, we are running out of words to describe the horror of what is happening in Sudan," said Clementine Nkweta-Salami, the UN humanitarian coordinator for Sudan.

"We continue to receive unrelenting and appalling reports of sexual and gender-based violence, enforced disappearance, arbitrary detentions and grave violations of human and children's rights," she told reporters.

"What is happening is verging on pure evil," she said, citing reports of young girls being raped in front of their mothers.

She said she was worried about the risk of a repeat of the genocide of the early 2000s in this region of western Sudan.

Since April, forces loyal to army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan -- Sudan's de facto head of state -- have been at war with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) commanded by his former deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.

The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) pointed to reports that more than 800 people had been killed by armed groups in Ardamata in West Darfur, an area that so far had been less affected by the conflict.

(AFP)

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