International Unicef envoy shocked by violence in Sudan
The Sudan envoy of the UN Children's Fund Unicef, Sheldon Yett, compares the situation in Sudan with the genocide in Rwanda in the 1990s.
12.11.2025, 00:09
SDA
"Much of what is happening in parts of Sudan right now reminds me of that. The reports of the frenzy. The joy of killing," he told Der Spiegel. "There are targeted acts of violence against different ethnic groups."
Yett added: "The survivors' accounts are harrowing: murders, extortion, rape. Some pay large sums to escape. There is a complete breakdown of all order," said Yett, who said he had witnessed the genocide in Rwanda in the 1990s. "Sudan is a testing ground for modern warfare."
War has been raging in Sudan for more than two years between the military and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia. According to estimates, 150,000 people have lost their lives in the conflict. The violence escalated again at the beginning of November when the RSF captured the large city of Al-Fashir in Darfur.
The situation in the East African country is currently considered the largest humanitarian crisis in the world. Both sides in the conflict are accused of war crimes and serious human rights violations, which both the army and the RSF deny.
"They eat grass and animal feed"
Yett said that around 260,000 people are still trapped in Al-Fashir and cannot escape. "They are eating grass and animal feed. Many are dying of hunger or because there is no medicine." Attempts to provide humanitarian aid in Al-Fashir regularly fail because drivers and trucks are shot at.
Due to the war, parts of Sudan are cut off from the outside world. Unicef is one of the few organizations still providing aid on the ground. In Rwanda, Hutu militias murdered at least 800,000 Tutsi and moderate Hutu within just 100 days in 1994.
