GENEVA, Feb 26, 2026 (AFP) - Killings of civilians in Sudan's war more than 
doubled in 2025 compared with the previous year, the United Nations rights 
chief said Thursday, warning that thousands more dead are unidentified or 
remain missing.

Since April 2023, Sudan has been engulfed in a conflict between the army and 
the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) that has killed tens of thousands, displaced 
11 million people and triggered one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

"This war is ugly. It's bloody and it's senseless," Volker Turk told the UN 
Human Rights Council, blaming both sides, which have so far rejected any 
humanitarian truce. He also blamed foreign sponsors funding what he called a 
"high-tech" conflict.

"In 2025, my office's documentation points to an over two and a half times 
increase in killings of civilians compared with the previous year. Many 
thousands are still missing or unidentified," Turk said.

There have been no official figures on the conflict's overall death toll.

Turk condemned what he called the "heinous and ruthless" brutalities 
committed, including sexual violence, summary executions and arbitrary 
detentions.

He highlighted the "carnage" inflicted by the RSF in an April attack on the 
Zamzam displacement camp and again in October in El?Fasher, then the regular 
army's last foothold in western Darfur.

Rape, gang rape, sexual torture and slavery have also surged, Turk said, with 
more than 500 victims documented in 2025. "The bodies of Sudanese women and 
girls have been weaponised to terrorise communities."

In a statement, the foreign ministers of the Sudan core group at the UN Human 
Rights Council said the RSF-led violence in El-Fasher "constitutes war crimes 
and crimes against humanity and bears the hallmarks of genocide".

Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway and Britain said they would form a 
coalition "to prevent further atrocities in Sudan and support the Sudanese 
people in laying the foundations for future justice".

- 'Madness' -

Since the fall of El-Fasher, the fighting has moved deeper into neighbouring 
Kordofan where drone strikes have killed dozens at a time.

Since January, drone attacks in the southern Kordofan region and beyond have 
"killed or injured nearly 600 civilians", Turk said, including in attacks on 
humanitarian aid convoys.

The UN's resident and humanitarian coordinator for Sudan, Denise Brown, said 
that access to the cities of Kadugli and Dilling in South Kordofan -- long 
cut off by an RSF siege until the army recently lifted it -- had been 
effectively impossible.

"We were not able to get supplies in. We had to remove our staff for their 
own safety," she said Thursday, after stepping off the first UN flight to 
Khartoum since the war began.

Famine was declared last November in the North Darfur capital El-Fasher and 
in Kadugli, the capital of South Kordofan, according to a UN-backed 
assessment. The same assessment said Dilling in South Kordofan is likely 
facing famine conditions.

Turk said the army and the RSF continued to use "explosive weapons in densely 
populated areas, often without warning -- showing utter disregard for human 
life".

He highlighted the "increased use of advanced long-range drones", which has 
"expanded harm to civilians in areas far from the front lines that were 
previously peaceful".

Turk also voiced concern over "the growing militarisation of society", 
including the recruitment of children into the fighting.

Several countries have been accused of involvement in the conflict.

The United Arab Emirates has been accused of arming the RSF -- allegations it 
denies. Egypt, Iran, Turkey and Saudi Arabia have backed army chief Abdel 
Fattah al-Burhan.

Turk urged "diplomatic and political pressure" for a humanitarian truce that 
leads to a permanent ceasefire.

Efforts to secure a ceasefire have repeatedly collapsed.

Burhan vowed this week to fight "until the end" and said he plans to build a 
"smart army" investing in technology and research.

In January, the army was studying a new ceasefire proposal from the United 
States and Saudi Arabia.

Talks mediated by the United States, UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt have stalled 
for months, with Burhan accusing mediators of favouring the UAE.