GNV News, 26 June 2026

International concern is growing over the risk of a new mass atrocity in Sudan after the United Nations’ top human rights official warned that the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) may be preparing a ground offensive against El Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan state. Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said such an assault could be a repeat of the mass killings allegedly committed by the RSF in and around El Fasher following its capture of the North Darfur city in October 2025, as well as those reported after the group seized the nearby Zamzam displacement camp in April the same year.

On 18 June, Türk warned that reports of a significant build-up of RSF and allied troops around El Obeid, combined with intensified drone strikes and artillery shelling, raised the risk of serious international crimes. Later the same day, UN Secretary-General António Guterres issued a similar warning, calling on states with influence over the warring parties to intervene and stressing that the world “must not allow the horrors of El Fasher to be repeated in El Obeid.”

Two days later, on 20 June, the UN Security Council demanded that the RSF immediately halt its assault on El Obeid. The Council expressed concern over the imminent risk of mass atrocities and condemned reported drone strikes on the city. It also called for accountability for any abuses and urged safe, unhindered humanitarian access for civilians.

Sudan has been at war since April 2023, when fighting broke out between the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF). The conflict has displaced more than 9 million people and left almost 19.5 million facing acute hunger. More than 150,000 people are also estimated to have been killed since the war began, although the true death toll is believed to be much higher. Famine has already been confirmed in parts of North Darfur and Kordofan.

The humanitarian crisis has also been marked by widespread human rights abuses. A report released on 23 June by the UN Human Rights Office found that sexual violence has been used systematically as a weapon of war throughout the conflict. The office verified 546 incidents involving at least 838 victims, most of them women and girls, between April 2023 and mid-April 2026. It attributed most cases to RSF-affiliated fighters and said the true scale was likely far higher because of persistent underreporting.

Meanwhile, fresh allegations have also drawn attention to the international response to the conflict. On 23 June, Yale University investigator Nathaniel Raymond told a UK parliamentary committee that Britain’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office prioritised its relationship with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) over acting on intelligence warnings that could have helped prevent the El Fasher massacre. The UAE has repeatedly denied backing the RSF. With the UN warning of another possible mass atrocity in El Obeid, renewed attention is now focused on whether international efforts will be sufficient to prevent a repeat of the violence.

Learn more about atrocities in El Fasher → ‘Sudan: “characteristics of genocide” reported‘

Learn more about the conflict in Sudan → ‘Conflict in Sudan: Three years on‘

Highway in El-Obeid (Photo: Matab Hamed / Wikimedia Commons [CC BY-SA 4.0])