Arabic version: تورك يدعو إلى وقف فوري لإطلاق النار في السودان

According to Allafrica, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk has called for an immediate ceasefire in Sudan, an end to foreign involvement and a return to inclusive civilian rule. Addressing the UN Human Rights Council, he urged an end to attacks on civilians in markets, hospitals and fuel stations.

The war between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) is now in its fourth year. More than six million people have been displaced within Sudan, while another 4.5 million have sought shelter across the country’s borders. Türk warned that civilians in Kordofan, Blue Nile and North and West Darfur remain at “imminent” risk.

A report by the Human Rights Council’s independent Fact-Finding Mission said both sides are increasingly using long-range drones, extending attacks beyond traditional front lines. Mission chair Mohamed Othman said drone strikes had killed and injured civilians in homes, schools, hospitals, markets, displacement sites, places of refuge and at community gatherings.

The report cited successive RSF drone strikes on a kindergarten and hospital in Kalogie, South Kordofan, which left 114 people dead, including 60 children. It also cited SAF attacks on Ad-Da’ein Teaching Hospital that killed at least 70 people. Othman said there were reasonable grounds to believe that both the SAF and RSF had committed serious violations that may amount to war crimes.

Separately, the World Health Organization said three major hospitals in Khartoum have sustained extensive damage. Operating theatres were destroyed, imaging equipment was lost and several wards collapsed, while staff continue treating patients in usable parts of the buildings. WHO Representative in Sudan Dr Abdinasir Abubakar appealed for help to repair the damage.