Amnesty International accused both sides of the conflict in Sudan on Thursday of committing widespread war crimes, calling for an expansion of the arms embargo currently applied to Darfur to include the entire country. The organization stated in a report on its website: "Sudan is witnessing widespread war crimes as the conflict between the armed forces and rapid support forces sweeps across the country," adding: "Some documented violations such as attacks targeting civilians, attacks on humanitarian infrastructure, rape and other forms of sexual violence, and looting rise to the level of war crimes."
The organization urged the United Nations Human Rights Council to establish an independent investigation and accountability mechanism to monitor, collect, and preserve evidence of human rights violations in Sudan, emphasizing the necessity for the international community to immediately expand the current arms embargo to cover all of Sudan and to ensure its enforcement while exerting significant influence over the warring parties to end the violations.
The unit for combating violence against women and children in Sudan revealed yesterday an increase in cases of enforced disappearance of women in Nyala, stating in a release that it had received accounts from survivors confirming they had been detained. It reported that eyewitnesses indicated there are women and girls held in warehouses and hotels in Nyala and Khartoum, calling for swift and serious international action to end this tragedy and put an end to the horrific violations of human rights against women and girls in Sudan. The unit noted that it has documented 56 cases of sexual violence related to the conflict in the capital Khartoum and 31 cases in Southern Darfur.
