UN Warns of Humanitarian Catastrophe in El-Obeid

United Nations human rights chief Volker Turk has warned of an unfolding humanitarian catastrophe in El-Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan, Sudan. During an urgent debate at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Turk described siege-like conditions and severe shortages of clean water amid relentless drone strikes between Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The RSF has been massing forces around El-Obeid, raising fears of large-scale atrocities.

According to Al Jazeera, more than 11,000 people, including over 5,500 children, have fled escalating fighting in the past two weeks. The city is strategically important as a gateway linking Khartoum with Darfur and hosts key military infrastructure. At least 50 civilians were killed and 41 injured in drone strikes between June 6-28, according to UN records.

The siege has caused food prices to surge by up to 300 percent, leaving many residents unable to afford basic necessities. The RSF has targeted civilian infrastructure, including hospitals and schools, displacing nearly 100,000 people who had sought refuge in El-Obeid from violence elsewhere.

Recent attacks have hit the main power station and fuel depots, plunging neighborhoods into darkness and shutting down water pumps. The UN's top rights body held a rare urgent debate on the human rights situation around El-Obeid following a request by the United Kingdom on behalf of a group of countries. According to Al Jazeera, Save the Children warned that up to 500,000 civilians could be at risk if violence intensifies.

The war in Sudan has killed or wounded more than 300 children in the last six months, mostly from drone strikes, according to UNICEF. The conflict has killed at least 59,000 people, displaced some 13 million and pushed many parts of Sudan into famine. More than 30 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance.

The Sudanese army has conditioned any broad acceptance of a U.S. proposal for ending the country's three-year-old civil war on the full withdrawal by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces from cities it has occupied, according to documents seen by Reuters. The documents show that a U.S. proposal last month called for both sides to agree to an immediate 90-day humanitarian truce, allowing for negotiation of a permanent ceasefire and a civilian-led transition to elections.

The army-led Sudanese government accepted most of the proposal but objected to only a limited withdrawal, saying the plan must include 'the withdrawal of (the RSF) from all the cities it has occupied since May 11, 2023,' according to Reuters. The U.S. proposal also called for a unified national army with disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration arrangements, as well as a Sudanese civilian-led political process excluding the Muslim Brotherhood or militia elements that committed atrocities.