Geneva, June 16 (Darfur24)
The UN Fact-Finding Mission on Sudan has reported an escalating pattern of arbitrary detention, torture, enforced disappearance, and other grave violations by parties to the conflict, warning that civilians are increasingly being subjected to repression and abuse across the country.
Presenting its findings to the Human Rights Council, the mission said widespread violations of international human rights and humanitarian law committed by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), and their allied groups show no signs of abating. It noted that some of these violations may amount to crimes against humanity.
According to the mission, both the SAF and RSF have engaged in systematic mass detentions targeting individuals suspected of supporting or sympathizing with the opposing side. Detainees are often held without legal basis, judicial oversight, or fair trial guarantees, and many are subjected to prolonged detention, torture, enforced disappearance, or death.
The mission said those targeted include journalists, human rights defenders, humanitarian workers, political activists, religious and community leaders, civil society actors, traders, ordinary civilians, and relatives of combatants.
It also documented cases in which RSF personnel allegedly detained civilians and demanded large sums of money from their families in exchange for their release. In some cases, the requested payments reportedly reached 25 million Sudanese pounds, or approximately $40,000.
The mission expressed particular concern over the reported detention of at least 70 people by RSF military intelligence in El Geneina in May, including humanitarian workers. It said no information about their whereabouts or condition has been made available since their arrest.
At the same time, the mission accused the SAF of continuing to harass, arrest, and detain civilian leaders, political opponents, lawyers, humanitarian workers, human rights defenders, and journalists suspected of links to the RSF.
It noted that journalists and independent sources of information have faced intimidation, detention, and internet restrictions, limiting the flow of independent reporting during the conflict.
The mission also received credible reports of serious violations of fair trial standards, including delayed access to courts, restrictions on legal representation, coerced confessions, and cases in which individuals were reportedly prosecuted again after previously being acquitted.
Among the cases documented was that of a lawyer from Sinja known for defending political prisoners and victims of repression. According to the mission, he established a free medical unit after the RSF took control of the city, but was later arrested by SAF forces following their entry into Sinja. The mission said he was allegedly tortured by members of the Al-Baraa bin Malik Brigade before being sentenced to death by a court in Sennar in October 2025.
Harsh Detention Conditions
The mission said it gathered credible information indicating that detention conditions under both sides are often inhumane and pose serious threats to detainees’ lives and physical safety.
According to the report, detainees are frequently held in overcrowded facilities lacking adequate food, clean water, sanitation, and medical care, increasing the risk of disease outbreaks, including cholera. Many are also held incommunicado, heightening the risk of enforced disappearance.
Former detainees held by the SAF reported being subjected to electric shocks, severe beatings, humiliating treatment during interrogations, and denial of medical care in military intelligence facilities, undisclosed detention sites, and official prisons, including Port Sudan Central Prison.
The mission described conditions at Soba Prison in Khartoum, during RSF control, as harsh and stated that Nyala Prison in South Darfur has acquired a particularly troubling reputation. It cited reports indicating that thousands of detainees are being held there, including prisoners transferred from El Fasher and other areas.
It reported severe overcrowding, lack of healthcare, widespread physical abuse, and detention conditions that violate basic human dignity. The absence of due process and restrictions on family and legal access have also raised concerns about enforced disappearances.
The mission further documented allegations of coercive interrogations, beatings, sexual violence, and other forms of physical and psychological abuse by both sides, some of which reportedly resulted in deaths in custody.
It expressed particular concern over widespread and systematic sexual violence allegedly committed by the RSF against women and girls, as well as reports of sexual torture against male detainees held by the SAF.
Calls for Accountability
The mission stressed that ending impunity for arbitrary detention, torture, and enforced disappearance is critical to preventing further abuses and improving prospects for a peaceful resolution to the conflict.
It renewed calls for greater support for victims, cooperation with the International Criminal Court (ICC), the expansion of international accountability efforts beyond Darfur, the establishment of an independent international judicial mechanism, and the preservation of evidence for future prosecutions. The mission also called for targeted sanctions against those responsible for serious violations.
“Civilians continue to bear the brunt of this conflict,” said Mohamed Chande Othman, head of the fact-finding mission.
“They are not only subjected to direct attacks and violence, but also face an increasingly repressive environment marked by arbitrary detention and fear. Unless these patterns are brought to an end, they will further deepen Sudan’s humanitarian and human rights crisis.”
The mission urged all parties to end arbitrary arrests and detentions immediately, release individuals held without legal basis, guarantee humane treatment and fair trial rights, allow independent access to detention facilities, and disclose the fate and whereabouts of all detained persons.