This week, the UN’s humanitarian chief joined 38 other international groups in sounding the alarm over the risk of imminent mass atrocities in Sudan’s North Kordofan state as fighting between the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and their allies closes in on El Obeid. The city is a strategic hub in the struggle for control of western Sudan, which is already sheltering hundreds of thousands of civilians displaced from elsewhere.

International human rights groups have raised the specter of a repeat of atrocities committed by the RSF during its siege and capture of the western Darfuri town of El Fasher in 2025. A new report by Amnesty International has accused the paramilitary force of committing crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing in El Fasher. It follows an earlier UN report that found evidence of “hallmarks of genocide” against non-Arab communities.