Africa Theater

UN investigation finds genocide in Sudan

The UN fact-finding mission for Sudan has produced a follow-up to its February investigation into atrocities by the Rpaid Defense Forces (RSF) in El Fasher, finding at least three of the material crimes of genocide "overwhelmingly present." After a prolonged siege, the UAE-backed group launched an October 2025 assault on El Fasher, which was the last major Darfur city where the Sudanese army and allied forces were active. Since the February publication, the mission said it has received new information, especially on the abduction and mass rape of women and girls. It says survivors were raped by RSF forces in the presence of corpses, including family members, and were targeted along ethnic lines. The mission also received new information on the high number of people—it says up to tens of thousands—who remain missing or unaccounted for, and describes the involvement of senior RSF members, including Deputy Commander Abdelrahim Hamdan Dagalo, during the takeover. With the RSF planning a new assault on the North Kordofan capital, El Obeid, the mission said the same patterns are repeating and called for the lessons of El Fasher not to be ignored.

UAE-backed network in Libya fuels Sudan war

A new Lighthouse Reports investigation has brought to light new evidence of the United Arab Emirates' role in sustaining Sudan's civil war by backing the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) through a covert logistics and training network based in eastern Libya. The report draws on social media analysis, geolocation data, satellite imagery, and witness interviews to trace alleged RSF-linked camps, convoy routes, and transfers of weapons and fuel between Libya and Sudan. The investigation identified four previously unknown RSF staging areas in Libya, including one near Benghazi. RSF defectors described training alongside Libyan National Army soldiers and UAE-contracted Colombian mercenaries before being sent back to Sudan.

Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso withdraw from ICC

Amnesty International on July 2 warned that the recent move by Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso to submit formal notifications of withdrawal from the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) paints a bleak future for thousands of conflict survivors, threatening their right to truth, justice and reparations.

Mali: rising violence against civilians

Human Rights Watch on June 29 criticized insurgent armed groups, the Malian armed forces and allied militias, and Russian mercenaries, which have all committed "serious abuses of human rights against civilians" amid an internal conflict that has further fueled long-standing ethnic tensions in the country.

DRC files ICJ case against Rwanda

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) on June 26 filed an application to bring proceedings against Rwanda over decades of war crimes and violence perpetrated in the DRC's east. The Congolese government filed the case with the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the United Nations' principal court for disputes between states.

Sudan: atrocity alert as RSF rings El Obeid

Warnings are mounting that Sudan's Rapid Support Forces (RSF) could carry out new mass atrocities as the paramilitary army prepares an assault on the government-held city of El Obeid in North Kordofan state. After the UN secretary-general and human rights chief sounded the alarm earlier this month, the African Union and several governments this week also warned of the extreme danger facing civilians if the UAE-backed rebels capture the city. The warnings have drawn comparisons with El Fasher and the nearby Zam Zam displacement camp in Darfur, which saw general massacres after they fell to the RSF last year. Reports suggest the RSF has moved substantial reinforcements to its siege of El Obeid, while stepping up drone strikes on the city. A crossroads linking RSF-controlled Darfur with government-held Sudan, El Obeid was under RSF siege until the Sudanese Armed Forces broke the blockade last year, but it is now being encircled once again.

Nigeria: gender-based violence against minorities

UN rights experts on June 8 condemned Nigerian authorities in response to ongoing reports that mass killings, kidnappings, forced conversion, sexual violence, and enforced disappearances are disproportionately targeting women and girls in Christian and minority religious communities.

Persistent violence in Central African Republic

The UN Independent Expert on the human rights situation in the Central African Republic (CAR), Aristide Nononsi, expressed concern June 1 about the persistent violence in the country, and its impacts on rights and humanitarian needs.

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