The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights describes the situation in the Sudan and directly appeals to the generals leading the warring parties to “stop sexual violence and protect civilian lives”.

“General al-Burhan, General Dagalo, you must issue clear orders, not in vague terms, to everyone under your command that there is zero tolerance for sexual violence…citizens must be protected and you must stop this senseless violence now,” said Volker Turk during a press conference in Geneva.

Specifically, from his headquarters in Switzerland, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights addresses the appeal to General Abdel Fattah Al Burhan, the de facto leader of the military junta of Sudan, and to his former close associate Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemeti, chief of Rapid Support Forces.

Hemeti, among others, and his paramilitary body, were relied upon by the Sudanese dictator Omar al-Bashir in the war in Darfurwhere the Rapid Support Forces distinguished themselves for mass murders, mass rapes, looting, annihilation of entire villages and ethnic cleansing.

Its forces are also active in Yemen and Libya, while they have close cooperation with the eponymous paramilitary company Wagner.

The two generals to whom the High Commissioner’s appeal is directed jointly led in 2019 the Khartoum Massacreof the brutal crackdown on peaceful protests, where more than 100 people were killed and their bodies thrown into the Nile, hundreds were tortured and raped in the streets of Khartoum.

Volker Turk said his office has recorded “at least 25 incidents of sexual violence so far” and speculated that “the number will be much higher.”