El Obeid at Risk: Preventing Further Atrocities and Renewing Independent Accountability for Sudan

1. *INTRODUCTION*

The Committee for Justice submits this written statement under agenda item 2 of the sixty-third session of the Human Rights Council, in connection with the interactive dialogue on the comprehensive report of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan.

Since the Council’s previous dialogue, grave violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law have continued across Sudan. The Mission’s July 2026 supplementary findings on El Fasher provide further evidence of mass killings, abductions, sexual violence and conduct bearing hallmarks of genocide. El Obeid has meanwhile emerged as an acute protection concern. The Council’s July resolution requesting an urgent inquiry into violations in and around the city was an important preventive step; effective implementation now requires access, resources and continuation of the Mission’s mandate.(1)

2. *EL OBEID: A FORESEEABLE RISK OF FURTHER ATROCITIES*

Approximately half a million people live in El Obeid, including more than 100,000 internally displaced persons, after more than 18 months of siege-like conditions. Before 8 July, at least 141 drone attacks had been recorded in North Kordofan during 2026, most affecting El Obeid and the main road to the city. The Committee has monitored attacks affecting schools, markets, fuel stations, water sources, health facilities and electricity infrastructure. In June, more than 15 drone attacks in and around El Obeid reportedly killed more than 45 people. At least 12 health facilities and a commercial market were destroyed or forced to close, while repeated strikes on fuel and electricity infrastructure severely disrupted transport, water supply and health care. By August, the city remained close to active frontlines amid continued military mobilisation and renewed attacks.(2)

El Obeid is a critical logistical and commercial link between Darfur, central Sudan, Khartoum and other states. Control of the city and surrounding routes may affect military supply lines as well as civilian access to food, fuel, medicine and safe movement. The pattern of attacks on objects indispensable to civilian survival raises serious concerns about unlawful deprivation and siege tactics. The Mission’s urgent inquiry should therefore examine both individual attacks and whether their cumulative pattern, together with restrictions on movement and essential supplies, constitutes a broader unlawful strategy against civilians.

3. *WIDER PATTERNS OF ATTACKS, DETENTION, AND ABUSE*

Recent monitoring by the Committee shows a wider pattern extending beyond El Obeid. On 2 August, an attack on the Al-Zawiya Gharra Community Court in North Darfur killed at least 35 civilians. The Committee has also monitored civilian casualties from shelling in Blue Nile and Darfur, the abduction and detention for ransom of women and girls travelling from Tawila, and continuing conflict-related sexual violence. These incidents occur amid persistent forced displacement and attacks on civilian and humanitarian infrastructure.(3)

Detention conditions remain alarming. The Committee has documented deaths and severe humanitarian conditions in Dagris Prison in Nyala, including inadequate medical care, food shortages, restrictions on family contact and prolonged detention without effective legal procedures. The Committee also received preliminary information concerning a possible mass extrajudicial killing of detainees at a detention facility in Wad Madani and documented arrests in West Kordofan followed by transfer to Dagris Prison. These cases require continued investigation of arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, torture, deaths in custody and alleged extrajudicial executions.(4)

4. *TARGETING OF JOURNALISTS AND HUMANITARIAN ACTORS*

The space for independent reporting and humanitarian action continues to contract. The Committee documented the August arrests of journalists Qurashi Awad and Al-Rayeh Essam, an arrest warrant against journalist Hanan Abdel-Hamid, and deteriorating health conditions of journalists detained in Nyala. In South Kordofan, ten humanitarian workers were detained and transferred to undisclosed locations, while a humanitarian activist was sentenced by a military court after prolonged detention. The use of security bodies, military proceedings and cybercrime legislation against journalists, humanitarian personnel and community actors heightens the risk of arbitrary detention and suppresses local documentation essential to accountability.(5)

Parties controlling territory must disclose detention locations, permit access to families and legal counsel, ensure medical care, and release persons arbitrarily detained for legitimate journalistic, humanitarian, legal or human rights work.

5. *WAR ECONOMY, ACCOUNTABILITY, AND THE NEED TO RENEW THE FACT FINDING MISSION*

The July 2026 briefing by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on Sudan’s gum arabic trade shows how the conflict economy compounds abuses in Kordofan and Darfur. Control of routes and checkpoints, together with looting, confiscation, charges, extortion and arbitrary detention affecting producers, drivers and traders, increases risks to civilians and obscures commodity supply chains. The Council should encourage effective human rights due diligence and traceability to reduce the risk that commercial activity finances violations.(6)

The Fact-Finding Mission remains indispensable for documenting patterns, identifying responsible actors, preserving evidence and supporting future accountability. Its findings on El Fasher demonstrate why independent investigations must continue across territorial shifts. The Council should renew and strengthen the Mission’s mandate with predictable resources sufficient to investigate ongoing violations and complete the El Obeid inquiry. Complementarity with African mechanisms should also be reinforced, including follow-up to the Banjul Joint Declaration and the Pan-African Parliament’s August 2026 recommendations. Sudan’s fourth-cycle Universal Periodic Review in January 2027 offers an additional accountability opportunity, but cannot substitute for independent fact-finding.(7)

6. *RECOMMENDATIONS*

The Committee for Justice urges the Human Rights Council to:

1. Renew and strengthen the mandate of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan for as long as the armed conflict continues and until credible, independent and effective national accountability mechanisms are in place, with adequate and predictable resources to investigate ongoing violations and international crimes, preserve evidence, identify responsible actors, and complete the urgent inquiry into El Obeid.
2. Demand immediate compliance by all parties with international humanitarian law and international human rights law, including an end to attacks on civilians and civilian objects, starvation or deprivation of objects indispensable to survival, conflict-related sexual violence, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, torture and extrajudicial executions.
3. Call for safe, rapid and unhindered humanitarian access to El Obeid, Kordofan, Darfur and other affected areas, and protection of humanitarian personnel, medical facilities, water and electricity infrastructure, displacement sites and civilian escape routes.
4. Call on all parties to disclose detention locations, permit independent monitoring, guarantee access to families, lawyers and medical care, and release all persons arbitrarily detained for journalistic, humanitarian, legal, community or human rights activities.
5. Strengthen coordination between United Nations and African human rights mechanisms, support evidence-preservation and accountability pathways, address conflict-linked commercial and arms flows through effective due diligence, and encourage States participating in Sudan’s Universal Periodic Review to reflect the Mission’s findings and recommendations.

7. *ENDNOTES*

• Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan, “Sudan: Hallmarks of Genocide in El Fasher,” A/HRC/61/77, 19 February 2026; “Information Supplementing the Report ‘Sudan: Hallmarks of Genocide in El Fasher’,” A/HRC/62/CRP.4, 8 July 2026; Human Rights Council, resolution on the human rights situation in and around El Obeid, adopted 6 July 2026.
• Committee for Justice and Sudan Rights Watch Network, “El Obeid on the Brink of Catastrophe: Urgent Warnings of a Repeat of the El Fasher Tragedy,” 14 July 2026; Médecins Sans Frontières, “Half a Million People in El-Obeid Face Limited Services as Drone Attacks Intensify,” 20 July 2026.
• Committee for Justice, statements on the Al-Zawiya Gharra Community Court attack, civilian casualties in Blue Nile and Darfur, abduction of women and girls for ransom, and conflict-related sexual violence, July-August 2026.
• Committee for Justice, statements on detention conditions and deaths in Dagris Prison, possible mass extrajudicial killing of detainees in Wad Madani, and arrests in West Kordofan, July 2026.
• Committee for Justice, statements concerning journalists Qurashi Awad, Al-Rayeh Essam and Hanan Abdel-Hamid, detained journalists in Nyala, ten humanitarian workers in South Kordofan, and humanitarian activist Najwa Musa Konda, July-August 2026.
• Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, “Business and Human Rights in Conflict: Gum Arabic from Sudan,” Briefing Paper, 15 July 2026.
• Human Rights Council resolution 60/3, 6 October 2025; Committee for Justice, statement welcoming the Pan-African Parliament’s report and recommendations on Sudan, 5 August 2026; Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Universal Periodic Review Working Group, 54th session, 18-29 January 2027.