Civilian death toll in Sudan war more than doubled in 2025: UN

Killings of civilians in Sudan’s war more than doubled in 2025 compared with the previous year, the United Nations rights chief said Thursday, warning that thousands more dead are unidentified or remain missing. Since April 2023, Sudan has been engulfed in a conflict between the army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) that has killed tens of thousands, displaced 11 million people and triggered one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. “This war is ugly.

It’s bloody and it’s senseless,” Volker Turk told the UN Human Rights Council, blaming both warring sides, which have so far rejected any form of humanitarian truce. He also blamed foreign sponsors funding what he called a “high-tech” conflict. “In 2025, my office’s documentation points to an over two and a half times increase in killings of civilians compared with the previous year.

Many thousands are still missing or unidentified,” Turk said. He condemned what he called the “heinous and ruthless” brutalities committed, including sexual violence, summary executions and arbitrary detentions. Turk highlighted “carnage” inflicted by the RSF during an attack on the Zamzam displacement camp in April, and again in October in El-Fasher, which was the army’s last foothold in western Darfur.

[paywall]

Sexual violence, including rape, gang rape, sexual torture and slavery, has also surged, Turk said, with more than 500 victims documented in 2025. “The bodies of Sudanese women and girls have been weaponised to terrorise communities.” He added that he is “extremely worried these crimes may be repeated”. Since the fall of El-Fasher, the fighting has moved deeper into neighbouring Kordofan where drone strikes have killed dozens at a time.

[/paywall]