The United Nations Human Rights Council has unanimously approved a resolution condemning escalating violence by Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and its allied militias in and around el-Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan, a region in central Sudan. The measure, passed without a vote on Monday, was brought forward by Britain, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands and Norway, and also calls for greater international support for countries hosting Sudanese refugees, while condemning "all forms of external interference" in the war. China, Cuba, Egypt and Pakistan distanced themselves from the consensus, raising concerns in particular about references to an existing UN fact-finding mission tasked with documenting rights abuses in the conflict.
The vote came after UN human rights chief Volker Türk sounded a "red alert" on Friday over the possibility of atrocity crimes in and around el-Obeid. His warning reflected growing alarm among diplomats and advocacy groups that the city could become the scene of a new wave of mass atrocities against civilians. The Arab League echoed those fears, with Secretary-General Nabil Fahmy warning that more than half a million civilians — including tens of thousands of internally displaced people — are trapped under a sustained siege, subjected to drone strikes targeting markets, schools, hospitals, water facilities and power infrastructure. Fahmy cautioned that the pattern of military build-up and attacks on residential areas risked repeating the kind of atrocities seen in El Fasher, another Sudanese city that has endured severe violence despite repeated international warnings.
El-Obeid has been under drone attack for roughly a month, with strikes hitting the city's main power station, fuel depots and civilian sites, causing casualties and deepening a humanitarian emergency. The Arab League called for intensified international and regional efforts to halt the slide toward catastrophe, reaffirming its support for Sudan's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and urging progress through the so-called Quint mechanism — a diplomatic framework involving the Arab League, the African Union, the United Nations, the European Union and the regional bloc IGAD.
The wider war in Sudan, now entering its fourth year, erupted in April 2023 from long-standing tensions between the national army and the RSF. It has killed at least 59,000 people, displaced around 13 million and pushed large parts of the country into famine conditions, with more than 30 million people now in need of humanitarian assistance. The focus on el-Obeid matters because North Kordofan sits at a strategic crossroads in central Sudan, and its fall or prolonged siege would have severe consequences for supply lines and civilian populations across a wide area. International bodies are pressing for urgent action, warning that without intervention, the city could follow a grim trajectory already witnessed elsewhere in the conflict.