It has been “1,000 days of astonishing violence and unimaginable suffering” and “1,000 days of total impunity” for the perpetrators of a long list of atrocities and war crimes.”
As the conflict approaches its third anniversary in April, fighting continues to spread. Ms DiCarlo said front lines have fluctuated in the states of North Darfur, North Kordofan, South Kordofan and Blue Nile, and that drone strikes and airstrikes by both the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have become “a defining feature of this conflict”.
Serious consequences for civilians
“The consequences for civilians and civilian infrastructure are serious. No corner of Sudan is safe from the threat of attack,”Ms. DiCarlo warned.
In North Kordofan, the state capital, El Obeid, is besieged on three sides by the RSF, while the SAF has sought to reassert its presence in and around the city. “Ground fighting inside El Obeid would have catastrophic consequences and deal a serious blow to the prospects for a ceasefire,” he said.
In South Kordofan, fighting has also intensified around Kadugli and Dilling. Although recent announcements suggested that the sieges had been broken, humanitarian access remains uncertain.
Sudanese refugees arrive in the border town of Adré, Chad. (archive)
Relentless humanitarian crisis
Edem Wosornu, director of the Crisis Response Division of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said the situation in much of Kordofan and Darfur has deteriorated since the beginning of the year.
“In recent weeks we have seen an alarming escalation of Drone attacks in the three states of Kordofancausing more civilian deaths and injuries and forcing families to flee their homes,” he said. More than a million people are now displaced in the region alone.
Food insecurity is deepening. A UN-backed food security analysis indicates that famine conditions “may prevail” in Kadugli and Dilling. In northern Darfur, acute malnutrition rates in the towns of Um Baru and Kernoi exceeded famine thresholds in December.
Toll on humanitarian workers
The number of victims among humanitarian workers is increasing. Since the conflict began on April 15, 2023, some 130 aid workers (almost all Sudanese) have been killed.
“Humanitarian workers and humanitarian assets should never be objective,“Ms. Wosornu stressed, noting that four recent incidents in 10 days left humanitarian staff dead or injured while delivering food.
The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that in one week this month, three health facilities were attacked in South Kordofan, killing 31 people, including children and health workers.
Violence against women and girls has reached “catastrophic levels,” Wosornu said. Demand for prevention and response services has increased 350 percent since the war began, and documented cases of sexual violence have nearly tripled.
In Darfur, thousands of people have fled the fighting to seek refuge in Tawila.
‘Indicators of a genocidal path’
The briefing came hours after a UN human rights investigative mechanism warned that atrocities committed by RSF in El Fasher in October 2025 were “indicators of a genocidal path”, raising fears of similar patterns elsewhere.
Ms. DiCarlo said the events there were preventable. While the city was under siege for more than a year, UN officials “repeatedly raised the alarm about the risk of mass atrocities. But the warnings went unheeded.”
High Commissioner Volker Türk has now warned of the potential for similar crimes in Kordofan, where civilians are at risk of summary executions, sexual violence, arbitrary detention and family separation.
Need for international resolution
Concluding her briefing, Ms. DiCarlo called for greater international resolve.
“A unified message and strong action by the Security Council are more important than ever.“he said. “Pressure must be brought to bear on the parties and their supporters to end the war now.”
Ms. Wosornu echoed that call and called on Council members to use their influence to protect civilians, ensure humanitarian access and “work together to seek an immediate end to the fighting, stop the flow of weapons into Sudan, and push for the lasting, inclusive peace that the people of Sudan so desperately need.”