Published on 6/18/2026
The United Nations and Western countries warned of an “imminent attack” by Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces on the city of El Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan state in the west of the country.
In a statement, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, issued a strong warning of the attack following reports of a large mobilization of the Rapid Support Forces and their allied forces around the city of El Obeid.
He explained that the attack could lead to the commission of new serious international crimes, and deepen the catastrophic effects on the civilian population who are already suffering from tragic conditions.
He added: “We have witnessed this scenario before and we know where it led, and we cannot allow the repetition of atrocities that could have been avoided and which we documented in El Fasher and the Zamzam camp for displaced people in North Darfur last year.”
He stated that, given the patterns of serious violations of international law documented by the United Nations Human Rights Office during the Rapid Support Forces attacks on El Fasher and the Zamzam camp for displaced people last year, the risk of field executions, kidnapping, arbitrary detention, and other acts of violence against civilians is high and must be prevented from occurring.
He pointed out that the increasing use of drones to carry out air strikes is causing an additional devastating impact on civilians and civilian infrastructure in Kordofan.
Calls to prevent atrocities
In this context, a group of Western countries in the United Nations Human Rights Council called on the Rapid Support Forces to stop their attack on the city of El Obeid immediately, noting that if this happened, this could lead to widespread atrocities.
Norway published a joint statement on behalf of the “Preventing Atrocities and Achieving Justice in Sudan” coalition, which includes Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands and Norway, which it said also had the support of 21 other countries.
The coalition urged all countries to exert maximum pressure on the Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese army, to prevent atrocities and protect civilians, stressing the need to ensure unimpeded access to humanitarian aid.
“We are deeply concerned about the threat of imminent escalation on the ground, putting some 500,000 civilians at risk of becoming victims of large-scale atrocities, including more than 100,000 displaced people,” Norwegian Ambassador Tormod Endresen told the Human Rights Council in Geneva.
While the Sudanese army leadership confirms that the situation is completely under control and that the forces are performing their duties in securing the city of El Obeid, the Rapid Support Forces have continued to besiege the city for months, which is located on a main road linking areas controlled by the Rapid Support Forces in West Darfur with areas controlled by the army in the east.
The Rapid Support Forces recently escalated their attacks with drones on the city, which is gaining strategic importance, due to its geographical location that connects Khartoum and the center of the country with its west, as Al-Obeid is an important logistical center in the Kordofan region, which makes controlling it a strategic goal for both parties.
The conflict intensifies between the two parties in Sudan to control the resource-rich cities of Kordofan.
Since April 2023, the Rapid Support Forces have been engaged in confrontations with the army against the backdrop of disagreements over the integration of the former into the military institution, which led to a famine that is considered among the worst in the world, in addition to the killing of tens of thousands of Sudanese and the displacement of about 13 million people.
