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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Sudan: The state has collapsed. WFP calls for urgent, safe access to feed millions in Sudan as fighting rages

NOTE from Sudan Watch Editor: Today (Sat 2 Mar) I saw the below copied report by WFP 2 Feb 2024 shared at a website. After verifying some information with a few Sudan watchers, I posted the following comment:

"This article is a month old and the situation is worse with telecoms internet network outages continuing in Khartoum, Gezira, White Nile, South Kordofan and all 5 Darfur states. 

People have a problem obtaining money due to suspension of banking applications and many are unable to travel long distances to get money. 

The network outages are also compounded by the longstanding ability of international agencies to gain access to neither RSF nor SAF controlled areas. The situation is desperate and further aggravates the war’s direct toll on lives and livelihoods. 

There is a massive scale of suffering and inability of communal kitchens, emergency resistance committees or ordinary Sudanese people to provide food, medicines and essential services to people trapped in those locations. 

Khartoum is in blackout for 27th day. Who knows what's going on in the blackouts? The silence from Khartoum is deafening.  

Although the UN and all mediators are fully aware, those concerned can see no action to at least the network outages and other life-saving services. 

Who helps and protects the people in those locations? What about the elderly, infirm, sick needing healthcare, what will become of them? Has the state collapsed?"

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From World Food Programme (WFP)
Dated 02 February 2024 - here is a copy in full:

WFP calls for urgent, safe access to feed millions in Sudan as fighting rages across the country

PORT SUDAN – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) urgently calls on Sudan’s warring parties to provide immediate guarantees for the safe and unimpeded delivery of humanitarian food assistance to conflict-hit parts of Sudan, especially across conflict lines where hungry displaced civilians are trapped and cut-off from life-saving humanitarian assistance.

The situation in Sudan is dire. Despite WFP's efforts to provide food assistance to millions of people across the country since the war broke out, almost 18 million individuals across the country are currently facing acute hunger (IPC3+).

WFP has repeatedly warned of a looming hunger catastrophe in Sudan and people must be able to access aid immediately to prevent a crisis from becoming a catastrophe. Shockingly, the number of hungry has more than doubled from a year ago, and an estimated five million people are experiencing emergency levels of hunger (IPC phase 4) due to conflict in areas such as Khartoum, Darfur, and Kordofan.

WFP is the logistics backbone of the humanitarian response in Sudan and has ramped up lifesaving assistance in response to the deepening crisis, assisting over 6.5 million people since the war broke out. To reach families in Darfur, WFP established a cross-border route from Chad, through which over 1 million people have received food assistance. Other agencies have also used the route to deliver other much needed support. 

However, WFP is currently only able to regularly deliver food assistance to 1 in 10 people facing emergency levels of hunger (IPC phase 4) in Sudan. These people are trapped in conflict hotspots, including Khartoum, Darfur, Kordofan, and now Gezira, and for assistance to reach them humanitarian convoys must be allowed to cross the frontlines. Yet it is becoming nearly impossible for aid agencies to cross due to security threats, enforced roadblocks, and demands for fees and taxation.

“The situation in Sudan today is nothing short of catastrophic. Millions of people are impacted by the conflict. WFP has food in Sudan, but lack of humanitarian access and other unnecessary hurdles are slowing operations and preventing us from getting vital aid to the people who most urgently need our support,” said Eddie Rowe, WFP Sudan Representative and Country Director in Sudan. 

A vital humanitarian hub in Gezira state – which previously supported over 800,000 people a month - was engulfed by fighting in December and a key WFP warehouse looted. WFP is trying to obtain security guarantees to resume operations in the area to reach vulnerable families who are now trapped and in urgent need of food assistance.  

Over half a million people fled Gezira in December. For many it was the second or third time they have been displaced in this conflict, which has sparked the world's largest displacement crisis. But just 40,000 of the newly displaced have so far received WFP assistance because 70 trucks - carrying enough food to feed half a million people for one month – were stuck in Port Sudan for over two weeks in January waiting for clearances, which were only secured last week. Now, distributions are ongoing in Kassala, Gedaref and Blue Nile states.

Another 31 WFP trucks, which should have been making regular aid deliveries to the Kordofans, Kosti and Wad Madani, have been parked empty and have been unable to leave El Obeid for over three months. 

“Every single one our trucks need to be on the road each and every day delivering food to the Sudanese people, who are traumatised and overwhelmed after over nine months of horrifying conflict. Yet life-saving assistance is not reaching those who need it the most, and we are already receiving reports of people dying of starvation,” said Rowe. 

“Both parties to this gruesome conflict must look beyond the battlefield and allow aid organisations operate. For that, we need the uninhibited freedom of movement, including across conflict lines, to help people who so desperately need it right now, regardless of where they are,” he warned 

 

#                    #                   #

 

The United Nations World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters, and the impact of climate change.

 

Follow us on Twitter @WFP_Media, @WFP_Sudan

CONTACT
For more information please contact 
(email address: firstname.lastname@wfp.org):
Leni Kinzli, WFP/ Sudan, Mob. +254 769602340
Brenda Kariuki, WFP/ Nairobi. Tel, +254 707722104
James Belgrave, WFP/ Rome, Mob. +39 3665294297
Nina Valente, WFP/ London, Mob. +44 (0)796 8008 474
Martin Rentsch, WFP/ Berlin, Mob +49 160 99 26 17 30
Shaza Moghraby, WFP/ New York, Mob. + 1 929 289 9867
Steve Taravella, WFP/ Washington, Mob.  +1 202 770 5993

RELATED LINKS
Note to editors: Photos available via this link

Source: https://www.wfp.org/news/wfp-calls-urgent-safe-access-feed-millions-sudan-fighting-rages-across-country

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Related

Sudan Watch - March 01, 2024

UN experts: Sudan’s paramilitary forces carried out ethnic killings and rapes that may be war crimes - Darfur is experiencing “its worst violence since 2005”

The report to the U.N. Security Council, obtained Thursday by The Associated Press, paints a horrifying picture of the brutality of the Arab-dominated Rapid Support Forces against Africans in Darfur. It also details how the RSF succeeded in gaining control of four out of Darfur’s five states, including through complex financial networks that involve dozens of companies.

https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2024/03/un-experts-sudans-paramilitary-forces.html

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Sudan Watch - March 02, 2024

Sudan: In Zamzam camp, North Darfur, the death rate is catastrophic. At least 1 child dies every 2 hours

Malnutrition and disease are rife at the ‘overwhelmed’ Zamzam camp, a host to 300,000 internally displaced people, one of hundreds in Sudan, where war has displaced nearly 8 million people. The scale is simply terrifying. Zamzam is just one camp. There are hundreds of others in Sudan. 

https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2024/03/sudan-in-zamzam-camp-north-darfur-death.html

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END

‘No diplomatic end to Sudan’s war in sight' -Baldo

NOTE from Sudan Watch Editor: Peace meetings between Messrs Burhan and Hemeti could happen as soon as Hemeti makes his fighters leave Khartoum and move out of the residential homes and properties they've commandeered in Khartoum. It's as simple as that. Once that happens, Gen. Burhan said (many times) he will attend ceasefire and peace talks. The fact that none of it has happened proves Hemeti is not genuine in wanting peace and security for the people of Sudan. He wants Sudan and what's left of it by the time he's hauled off to the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

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From Radio Dabanga
Dated Friday, 12 January 2024; 18:00 NEW YORK - here is a copy in full:

‘No diplomatic end to Sudan’s war in sight,’ warns Suliman Baldo

Map of Sudan showing areas under SAF (in red) and RSF (in yellow) control as of December 21, 2023 (Source: @ThomasVLinge via X)

As the war between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) soon enters its ninth month, there remains no tangible end in sight to the widespread suffering endured by the country and its people. That is despite a flurry of diplomatic mediation efforts, says prominent Sudanese researcher Suliman Baldo.

In his analysis ‘Sudan’s Interminable War, published by the International Centre for Dialogue Initiatives on Tuesday, conflict resolution expert Suliman Baldo* observes that while both the SAF and the RSF “initially believed they would crush the other in days”, the conflict has dragged on into “multiple localised ethnically driven clashes beyond either party’s control”.

On the ground, the RSF has succeeded in expanding its territorial control in Darfur, Kordofan, and Khartoum, while SAF remains in control of northern, central, and eastern regions, including de-facto administrative capital Port Sudan. In December, an RSF offensive “wrestled the central Gezira state from the army’s control and threatened its presence in the White Nile and Sennar states”.

The war unmasked SAF’s ineptitude, Baldo asserts, “as its senior commanders became too steeped in grand corruption practices to pay attention to the decay of SAF as a fighting force”.

Their adversary, the RSF, is “ethnically aligned, with plunder as the main motivation of its fighters”. The paramilitary force “proved incapable of providing for the population” in El Gezira after it took over the former safe haven for those who fled Khartoum and El Obeid in the early days of the war.

At the end of December, the Wad Madani Resistance Committees lamented the deterioration of security, health and humanitarian conditions in El Gezira, continued attacks by the RSF, the lack of functional hospitals, and the ongoing waves of displacement in the state.

The region is divided over Sudan. Sudanese policy analyst Kholood Khair and civil society activist Asmahan Akam wrote in Time magazine in December that “Egypt, Iran, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia support the SAF while the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a UN Security Council member, backs the RSF in seeming violation of the body’s own arms embargo on Darfur, first enacted in 2004 and just renewed (with a yes vote from the UAE) in March 2023”.

‘No tangible solution’

The SAF, with junta leader Lt Gen Abdelfattah El Burhan at its head, conditions a ceasefire on the RSF evacuating private and residential areas. Baldo explains that this is most likely to be rejected by the latter, as it maintains a tactical advantage in doing so, especially in Khartoum where it continues to lay siege to several SAF command stations.

Whilst ongoing conflict threatens SAF’s collapse, Baldo believes, “a traffic jam of diplomatic initiatives” has yet to bring forth any sustainable nor tangible end to the conflict.

The Jeddah talks, facilitated by the US and Saudi Arabia, stalled due to belligerents’ failures to honour commitments. The United Nations (UN) “was relegated to an observer’s seat as Sudan unilaterally terminated its political mission”, whereas “offers of mediation by Russia, Turkey, and a Sudan neighbours’ initiative launched by Egypt in July failed to generate traction because the RSF declined to cooperate with any”.

By the end of 2023, the Horn of Africa Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), whose members include Djibouti, Kenya, the Sudans, Uganda, Ethiopia, Somalia and Eritrea, emerged as a lead mediator for a humanitarian ceasefire and civilian-led political negotiations.

IGAD convened in Djibouti in early December, for an extraordinary assembly session on the situation in Sudan, where members agreed to redouble efforts to achieve a peaceful resolution, including mediating head-to-head talks between El Burhan and RSF commander ‘Hemedti’.

“However, several challenges emerged in the final days of 2023 and early 2024 that risk derailing the IGAD’s role in these processes.”

Hours after the IGAD communiqué of the summit was released, the Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs initially denied El Burhan’s agreement to meet with Hemedti without conditions, stating that the communiqué’s content “was not based on consensus nor legally binding.”

Baldo notes that the FA Ministry is “dominated by Islamist allies of the SAF” who are most likely behind the initial rejection of the offer. El Burhan later agreed to meet with Hemedti.

Another challenge facing IGAD’s role is the official reception and hospitality received by Hemedti during his Africa tour, in which he was hosted by the heads of four IGAD member states, including chairperson Ismail Guelleh, the President of Djibouti.

“Hemedti’s reception as a visiting dignitary bestowed on him a diplomatic legitimacy that provoked the ire of the SAF, and made less likely that Burhan would agree to meet with him under the IGAD’s auspices after this slight”, the expert explained.

Last June, Sudan’s Sovereignty Council, chaired by El Burhan, declared that “Kenya is not neutral and is home to RSF rebel leaders”.

Last week, acting FA Minister Ali El Sadig announced that Sudan summoned the Kenyan ambassador to protest against the official reception of Hemedti by the Kenyan president.

* Dr Suliman Baldo is an expert in justice, human rights and conflict resolution in Africa and served as the Africa head of International Crisis group, the International Center for Transitional Justice, and has also held human rights and mediation posts in the United Nations. He has provided expert advice on human rights in Mali and Darfur and currently leads the Sudan Transparency and Policy Tracker. (Source: International Centre for Dialogue Initiatives website)

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View original: https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/no-diplomatic-end-to-sudans-war-in-sight-warns-suliman-baldo

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