Civilians fleeing war in Sudan to Uganda give harrowing testimony to UN Fact-Finding Mission

MEMBERS of the United Nations Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan expressed concern about the escalating impact of the conflict on civilians after meeting about 200 people from almost all states of Sudan during a visit to Uganda from 1 to 18 December 2024. The experts:

• commend the Ugandan authorities for opening their borders to Sudanese and other refugees and supporting them where possible, including with humanitarian assistance.

• call on international community to support Uganda and other countries hosting large numbers of Sudanese refugees to ensure the refugees have access to basic facilities, including nutrition, healthcare, hygienic needs, education and live in humane conditions and with dignity. 

Note that these refugees are able to exercise freedom of expression, association and movement. As a result, Uganda has become a main hub for Sudanese civil society and human rights defenders. Read full story below.

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Press Release
By UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
Dated Thursday, 19 December 2024 - full copy:

Civilians fleeing war in Sudan to Uganda give harrowing testimony to United Nations Fact-Finding Mission

GENEVA – Dozens of men, women and children who fled Sudan have offered vital testimony about the country’s deadly conflict to human rights experts visiting a settlement camp in neighbouring Uganda.

Members of the United Nations Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan expressed concern about the escalating impact of the conflict on civilians after meeting about 200 people from almost all states of Sudan during a visit to Uganda from 1 to 18 December. 

“Instead of contributing positively to the rebuilding of Sudan, millions of Sudanese refugees are trapped in dire conditions in camps and settlements in neighbouring countries as the conflict rages on,” Mohamed Chande Othman, chair of the Fact-Finding Mission, said. “They have no means or employment while waiting desperately to be able to return to their home country.”

Visiting a location for new arrivals in Kiryandongo, Uganda, which hosts more than 50,000 refugees mostly from Sudan and South Sudan, the experts met refugees from the capital Khartoum as well as Blue Nile, Darfur, Gezira, Kordofan and White Nile, and observed first-hand their dire circumstances, as the conflict enters a new phase moving eastward.

The visit also shed light on key incidents, including the siege of El Fasher city and its surroundings in North Darfur since April 2024. The Fact-Finding Mission collected harrowing testimonies of widespread destruction, killings, rape and other sexual violence. The siege has been accompanied by relentless shelling between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), impacting civilians and civilian infrastructure, including hospitals, and resulting in catastrophic humanitarian conditions.

The experts further heard from Sudanese women about the huge challenges they had faced and their suffering before reaching Uganda.

Several women highlighted an increase in miscarriages, while others had been disproportionately hit by airstrikes or shelling directed at markets, both as vendors, and as they were obtaining essential supplies for their families. Women also reported sexual harassment, including by individuals wearing RSF uniforms, and speaking foreign languages. Many women spoke about their desire to shape the future of Sudan and not to leave the future of the country in the hands of the warring men.

“The women and children of Sudan are not only the main victims of this senseless conflict, but they also hold the key to a peaceful and dignified life for all Sudanese,” Mona Rishmawi, a member of the Fact-Finding Mission, said. “They must have a seat at any negotiations as equal stakeholders.”

About half of Sudan’s population - nearly 26 million people - are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance, with nearly three million facing acute hunger. Over 11 million civilians have been displaced internally, and nearly three million refugees have fled the country. This includes 64,000 who have fled to Uganda since the beginning of the current conflict in April last year.

“The sheer figures about hunger and displacement reemphasize the imperative of inquiring into the root causes of the violence and promoting accountability for the atrocity crimes to ensure that the cycle of violence ends,” Mr. Othman said.

The Fact-Finding Mission heard from the refugees that they faced gruelling journeys marked by numerous checkpoints where they were interrogated, detained and accused of collaborating with the opposite warring faction. Many were stripped of all possessions, including cash and mobile phones, with some forced to beg at mosques and appeal to charities to afford transportation out of the country.

The experts also heard of the challenges faced by persons with disabilities who endured displacements without access to necessary support or services. Individuals with mobility impairments recounted the extreme difficulties of fleeing conflict zones without adequate accommodations or assistance. Those with hearing impairment faced violence at checkpoints, being accused of spying for the other side.

The experts spoke to several Sudanese who fled the Gezira state, who described rape, forced labour, and other serious human rights and international humanitarian law violations, largely perpetrated by the RSF. Pillage and looting targeting civilian households and farms by the RSF have also exacerbated the humanitarian crisis in Gezira state. The SAF also caused significant human casualties with aerial bombardments of civilian areas.

The experts commend the Ugandan authorities for opening their borders to Sudanese and other refugees and supporting them where possible, including with humanitarian assistance. Particularly welcome is the ability of these refugees to exercise freedom of expression, association and movement. As a result, Uganda has become a main hub for Sudanese civil society and human rights defenders.

Sudanese refugees can enter the job market and access health care and education in the same way as Ugandan nationals. Despite being highly skilled, however, their ability to benefit from this generosity is limited by economic and language barriers, and the inability to provide documentation to prove their qualifications due to their rapid displacement.

“Therefore,” expert Joy Ngozi Ezeilo said, “the Fact-Finding Mission Sudan calls on the international community to support Uganda and other countries hosting large numbers of Sudanese refugees to ensure that the refugees have access to basic facilities, including nutrition, health care, hygienic needs and education, and that they can live in humane conditions and with dignity.”

The Fact-Finding Mission Sudan also visited Addis Ababa, Ethiopia where it engaged in constructive dialogue with the African Union and UN agencies. This is in line with its mandate to work with other national, regional and international efforts to address the human rights and international humanitarian law violations, and related crimes, in Sudan and advance peace, justice and accountability.

Background: The Human Rights Council established the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan in October 2023 with resolution A/HRC/RES/54/2, and extended its mandate until October 2025 with resolution A/HRC/RES/57/2. 

Its key task is “to investigate and establish the facts, circumstances and root causes of all alleged human rights violations and abuses and violations of international humanitarian law, including those committed against refugees, and related crimes in the context of the ongoing armed conflict that began on 15 April 2023, between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, as well as other warring parties.” 

The Fact-Finding Mission is also mandated to collect and analyze evidence in view of any future legal proceedings; to identify, where possible, individuals and entities responsible; and to make recommendations with a view to ending impunity and ensuring accountability and access to justice for victims and survivors. The three experts were appointed by the President of the Human Rights Council in December 2023. 

The Fact-Finding Mission presented two reports to the Human Rights Council in September (A/HRC/57/23) and October 2024 (A/HRC/57/CRP.6), respectively. The September report was also transmitted to the UN General Assembly. 

For media queries, please contact: Todd Pitman, Media Adviser for the UN Investigative Missions, todd.pitman@un.org / (+41) 76 691 1761; or Pascal Sim, Human Rights Council Media Officer, simp@un.org / +41 79 477 4411.

View original: https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/12/civilians-fleeing-war-sudan-uganda-give-harrowing-testimony-united-nations

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Related Report

Sudan Watch - Dec 04, 2024

Uganda welcomes Sudanese refugees with a plot of land to live & farm, 5-year residency, school education

Over 60,000 Sudanese refugees have fled to Uganda where, reportedly, asylum processes are dealt with swiftly. Once new arrivals have registered with the UNHCR in Uganda, they are granted a five-year residency permit. ...

https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2024/12/uganda-welcomes-sudanese-refugees-with.html

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WFP: ‘Grain from Ukraine’ docks in Port Sudan. 7,600 tonnes of flour on trucks for emergency distribution

THIS report brought tears to my eyes. Congrats to all involved. Great work.

World Food Programme (WFP) is working around the clock to urgently deliver critical food assistance to families in Sudan who are struggling with skyrocketing food insecurity, the WFP said in a statement yesterday.

WFP has been warning of a looming hunger catastrophe as the lean season approaches if civilians do not receive food assistance. Currently nearly 18 million people face acute food insecurity in Sudan, of which nearly five million are in emergency levels of hunger (IPC4). Read more.

From Radio Dabanga English
Dated Thursday, 29 February 2024 - here is a copy in full:

WFP: ‘Grain from Ukraine’ docks in Port Sudan

A shipment of 7,600 tonnes of wheat flour, donated by Ukraine to the United Nations World Food Programme’s (WFP) Sudan operation, has arrived in Port Sudan and is being loaded onto WFP trucks, for emergency food distribution (Photo: WFP / Abubaker Garelnabei)

Assigned to be a core part of food rations for one million conflict-affected people in Sudan for one month, a shipment of 7,600 tonnes of emergency food aid donated by Ukraine to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) Sudan operation, has arrived in Port Sudan, WFP says. The wheat flour is being loaded onto WFP trucks for emergency food distribution.

As the war raging across the country enters its 10th month, WFP is working around the clock to urgently deliver critical food assistance to families in Sudan who are struggling with skyrocketing food insecurity, the WFP says in a statement issued yesterday.

WFP says that the shipment – part of Ukraine’s humanitarian ‘Grain from Ukraine’ initiative launched by President Zelensky – was made possible by the German Federal Foreign Office, which covered the operating costs of €15 million, including the transportation costs from Ukraine to Sudan, and the implementation and distribution within the country to people in need.

Bags of Wheat flour donated by Ukraine to the United Nations WFP Sudan that have arrived in Port Sudan (Photo: WFP / Abubaker Garelnabei)

“The humanitarian situation in Sudan is catastrophic but we need to act now to stop it from spiralling further out of control,” says Eddie Rowe, WFP’s country director in Sudan. “WFP is working at pace to get food assistance into the hands of families that need it as quickly as possible.”

The 7,600 tonnes of wheat flour will be provided to families, many of whom have fled their homes due to the fighting and are struggling every day to meet their food needs. “This donation has arrived at a critical time in Sudan’s hunger crisis as fighting continues to spread ahead of the lean season in May, when food typically becomes scarcer, and hunger rises,” WFP says.

“This donation will enable WFP to support people whose lives have been completely upended by the war. We are deeply grateful to the Ukraine and Germany for supporting the Sudanese people in their greatest hour of need,” says Rowe.

During a press conference held in the Belgian capital Brussels last week, Rowe pointed out that that “five million people in Sudan cannot afford a square meal a day”.

WFP has been warning of a looming hunger catastrophe as the lean season approaches if civilians do not receive food assistance. Currently nearly 18 million people face acute food insecurity in Sudan, of which nearly five million are in emergency levels of hunger (IPC4). WFP has already provided around seven million people with emergency food and nutrition support since the conflict began last April, yet needs continue to grow.

Logistical challenges

The ongoing humanitarian catastrophe across Sudan is exacerbated by logistical challenges faced by organisations in delivering food and medical aid to those most in need, in light of the conflict, breakdown in security, banditry, and communications blackouts.

New reports suggest that the disruptions to shipping in the Red Sea due to escalating security concerns and attacks on commercial vessels has increased the cost of delivering vital supplies to Sudan by 40 per cent.

As reported by Radio Dabanga yesterday, The Darfur Joint Forces, which withdrew from El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur in November, have now completely stopped securing aid convoys from Port Sudan to El Fasher, due to renewed clashes between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in the North Darfur capital.

On February 22, the Darfur Network for Human Rights (DNHR) warned that El Fasher is witnessing “an intricate and dire humanitarian crisis as a violent conflict tightly grips the region”.

International law expert Motasim Ali has commented that “denying the right to humanitarian aid to civilians is considered a crime against humanity”.

Click for video

Bags of Wheat flour donated by Ukraine to the United Nations WFP Sudan offloaded in Port Sudan (Photo: WFP / Abubaker Garelnabei)

Source: https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/wfp-grain-from-ukraine-docks-in-port-sudan

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