Volker Türk, the head of the UN Human Rights Division, claims that both sides in the fighting in Sudan have violated international humanitarian law.
Opening an emergency session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Mr Türk urged countries “with influence in Africa” to help end the violence.
Fighting has been continuing in the capital, Khartoum, and in the city of Omdurman.
On Wednesday, witnesses in Khartoum reported air raids and counter-fire from anti-aircraft guns.
This is the fourth week of fighting between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, RSF.
Students at the University of Khartoum in Sudan‘s capital have been confined inside campus buildings for more than three days as gunfire and artillery fire have been raining down around them.
The country has been gripped by fierce fighting between the army and a paramilitary group since it broke out on Saturday. The university area is a particularly hotspot because of its proximity to the General Command of the Armed Forces, where warplanes are circling overhead and nearby buildings are on fire.
Al-Muzaffar Farouk, 23, one of 89 students, faculty members, and staff taking refuge inside the university library, said, “It is frightening that our country will turn into a battlefield overnight.”
Food and water are running low, but leaving is not an option – one student has already been killed by gunfire outside. Khalid Abdulmun’em had been trying to run to the library from a nearby building when he was struck, said Farouk.
The students retrieved his body and brought it inside “despite the bullets that were falling on us,” he added.
The university confirmed Abdulmun’em’s death in a Facebook post, saying he had been shot in the campus’ surroundings. In a separate post on Monday, the university urged humanitarian organizations to help evacuate dozens of people stranded on campus.
Khartoum has been wracked by violence and chaos in a bloody tussle for power between Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, Sudan’s military leader, and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, head of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
The two leaders have traded blame for instigating the fighting and breaking temporary ceasefires. Meanwhile, civilians are paying the price, with at least 180 people killed and 1,800 others injured, according to UN officials on Monday.
“I can see outside smoke rising from buildings. And I can hear from my residence blasts, heavy gunfire from outside. The streets are totally empty,” said Red Cross staffer Germain Mwehu from Khartoum.
“In the building where I stay, I saw families with children, children crying when there are airstrikes, children horrified,” Mwehu said, adding that people had little to no access to food or medicine given the fierce fighting outside.
Children are among those killed; a 6-year-old child died on Monday after the RSF shelled a hospital in Khartoum and damaged a maternity ward. Medics were forced to evacuate, leaving patients behind – some just newborns in incubators.
At least half a dozen hospitals have been struck by both warring sides, according to Sudan’s Doctors Trade Union.
Even diplomats and humanitarian workers have been targeted.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken confirmed there was an attack on a US diplomatic convoy on Monday.
“Yesterday, we had an American diplomatic convoy that was fired on. All of our people are safe, but this the action was reckless, it was irresponsible and, of course, unsafe,” Blinken said in a press conference on Tuesday.
The European Union ambassador to Sudan was also assaulted in his residency on Monday, though he is now doing fine, according to a spokesperson for the EU’s top diplomat.
And three workers from the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) were killed in the western region of Darfur, prompting the WFP to temporarily halt all services in the country.
In statements early Tuesday morning, the two rival factions pointed fingers at each other.
The RSF accused the army of conducting airstrikes on residential neighborhoods and of attacking the EU ambassador’s headquarters in Khartoum; meanwhile, the army accused the RSF of targeting the ambassador’s residency, and of targeting the WFP’s headquarters in Darfur.
The UN and various foreign leaders have called for peace, with Blinken speaking separately with Burhan and Dagalo on Tuesday.
Blinken “expressed his grave concern about the death and injury of so many Sudanese civilians,” and argued a ceasefire was necessary to deliver aid, reunify separated families, and ensure the safety of diplomatic and humanitarian staff, according to a readout from the US State Department.
In his own statement, Dagalo said the RSF “will have another call” to continue dialogue. Burhan’s office also confirmed he had spoken with Blinken about the critical situation in Sudan.
The foreign ministers of G7 nations, comprised of some of the world’s largest economies, urged the factions to “end hostilities immediately” in their joint statement from Japan on Tuesday.
Volker Perthes, the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative for Sudan, said on Monday the organization has been trying to convince the two rival parties to “hold the fire” for a period of time, and asked them to protect embassies, UN offices, humanitarian and medical facilities.
Both sides had agreed to a three-hour ceasefire on Sunday, and again on Monday, with fighting resuming afterward, Perthes said.
But both Burhan and Dagalo have since accused the other of breaking that ceasefire.
When CNN spoke to Burhan on Monday afternoon, the sound of gunshots rang out in the background despite the supposed ceasefire – and Burhan claimed Dagalo had violated it for the second day.
A spokesperson for the RSF rebutted the accusation, claiming that they had been trying to abide by the ceasefire, but “they keep firing which leaves no choice” but for the RSF to “defend itself by firing back.”
Commander of the Sudanese military, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, has declared that the army will handover power as soon as the country’s political groupings agree on the creation of a new transitional administration.
Parties that signed the 5 December framework agreement – which paves way for the formation of a new civilian-led transitional government – are expected to set up committees to work on a new constitution for the country, Gen Burhan said.
He said the timeline for formation of a new government would depend on how fast civilian groups can reach an agreement on outstanding issues.
He insisted that the military “saved the country” on 25 October last year when it toppled a civilian-led coalition government in a coup.
Gen Burhan spoke on Tuesday to several pan-Arab news channels, including Al-Jazeera, Sky News Arabia and Al-Arabia TV.
The latest Sudanese political agreement was signed by the military junta and a faction of the former ruling civilian bloc Forces for Freedom and Change-Central Council (FFC-CC) and allied political groups.
While widely welcomed by the country’s international partners, the deal has been rejected by powerful pro-democracy protest organisers known as Resistance Committees and key pro-military and Islamist groups.
