GENEVA: Dozens of NGOs, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, called Friday for international action to avert looming “atrocities” in the Sudanese city of El-Obeid.
In an open letter addressed to member and observer states to the United Nations Human Rights Council, the 38 NGOs urged the Geneva-based body to “urgently address the situation in and around El Obeid,” and to “take bold steps toward atrocity prevention and accountability.”
A strategic hub in the southern Kordofan region, the city has been encircled for months by the Rapid Support Forces, the paramilitary group that has been fighting Sudan’s army since April 2023.
The UN has voiced fears that there could be a repeat of atrocities committed during the RSF’s October 2025 assault on the Sudanese city of El-Fasher, which it said bore “hallmarks of genocide.”
The international alarm has been mounting over the situation, with stark warnings sounded by the UN Security Council, Washington and several European countries over the past week.
