GENEVA, June 18, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - The United Nations said Thursday an "imminent offensive" on the strategic Sudanese city of El-Obeid by the RSF paramilitary forces must be halted, warning of catastrophic consequences for civilians.

"Stop this madness," said UN rights chief Volker Turk, following reports of a significant troop build-up by the Rapid Support Forces and allied forces around El-Obeid, as well as intensified drone strikes and artillery shelling.

He said an imminent offensive risked serious international crimes being committed again, as well as deepening the catastrophic impact on the civilian population.

For months, El-Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan state, has been partially encircled by paramilitary forces, in what the UN has described as siege-like conditions.

"We have seen this playbook before," Turk said in a statement.

The world cannot "allow a repeat of the preventable atrocities we documented in El-Fasher and Zamzam IDP (internally displaced persons) camp in North Darfur last year" he said.

"Civilians are at grave risk in Kordofan, particularly in El-Obeid, in the absence of action to halt the imminent offensive and further military escalation.

"Let this be a stark warning to the world of an impending human rights disaster and worsening humanitarian situation.

"The states with influence have the duty to exercise it now to stop this madness in its tracks."

The conflict in Sudan has killed tens of thousands of people and forced more than 11 million from their homes, creating what the United Nations describes as the world's largest displacement and hunger crises. It is now in its fourth year.

El-Obeid sits along a key route linking RSF-held areas in the western Darfur region to army-controlled regions in the east.

Fighting has intensified in recent months in the Kordofan region and Blue Nile state near the Ethiopian border, particularly after the RSF captured El-Fasher in October, the army's last major stronghold in western Darfur.

Kordofan -- home to oil deposits, arable land and the RSF's most powerful paramilitary allies -- remains a key and fiercely contested battleground.