09/08/2026
Stop the Attacks on Civilians in Sudan – Do Not Let El Obeid Become Another El Fasher
The Swedish Sudanese Association (SSA) is deeply alarmed by the continuing threat to civilians in El Obeid, Bara and across North Kordofan and strongly condemns attacks against civilians, health facilities, humanitarian operations and essential civilian infrastructure.
El Obeid must not be allowed to become another El Fasher.
In recent months, North Kordofan has become one of the principal frontlines of the war between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). El Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan and an important humanitarian and commercial centre, has repeatedly come under drone attack.
The United Nations has warned of the risk of catastrophic violence around the city following significant RSF troop movements in the surrounding areas. In July 2026, the UN Human Rights Council condemned escalating violence by the RSF around El Obeid and mandated an urgent investigation into reported violations and abuses.
The danger is not theoretical.
Recent drone strikes have hit civilian areas and essential infrastructure in El Obeid, including schools, a market, fuel facilities, water points and the city’s main power station. These attacks have killed and injured civilians and severely disrupted access to electricity, fuel and safe drinking water.
Over half a million people are currently living in El Obeid, including approximately 100,000 people displaced by violence elsewhere. The water situation is particularly critical, while shortages of fuel, medicines and essential services place further pressure on hospitals and already vulnerable communities.
Recent military developments have reopened important supply routes towards El Obeid and reduced some of the immediate pressure on the city. This is welcome. However, the continuing presence of opposing armed forces across North Kordofan, repeated drone attacks and the experience of other Sudanese cities demonstrate that the risk to civilians remains extremely serious.
El Fasher Must Be a Warning to the World
The international community must learn from what happened in El Fasher.
After an approximately 18-month siege, the RSF captured El Fasher in October 2025. The United Nations Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for Sudan subsequently documented mass killings, executions, sexual violence and other grave abuses during and following the capture of the city.
The United Nations documented more than 6,000 killings during the first three days of the final offensive and capture of El Fasher, while stressing that the actual death toll was undoubtedly significantly higher.
In February 2026, the UN Fact-Finding Mission concluded that the mass killings and related atrocities committed during the RSF’s capture of El Fasher bore hallmarks of genocide.
El Fasher therefore represents more than a tragedy. It represents a warning.
The international community knew that civilians in El Fasher faced an extraordinary danger. The world must not wait until another catastrophe has occurred before acting in El Obeid and North Kordofan.
We Have Seen the Human Cost of This War
For SSA, these events are not abstract.
During the violence in North Darfur, we lost our dear friend and colleague Farah Abdallah, a member of SVO who was engaged in the Save Lives in Sudan initiative and worked with our humanitarian activities supporting Sayid Alshuhada Hospital in the El Fasher area.
Following the violence around Zamzam and El Fasher, several of our colleagues—health workers and volunteers dedicated to saving lives—were forced to flee.
Hospitals and health facilities across Sudan have repeatedly been attacked, damaged or forced to suspend services as a consequence of the war.
These experiences make our concern for El Obeid, Bara and surrounding communities particularly urgent.
We cannot wait for another humanitarian catastrophe before the world acts.
Civilians, Hospitals and Humanitarian Operations Must Be Protected
The violence against civilians must stop.
Hospitals, health workers, humanitarian personnel, humanitarian convoys, water systems and other civilian infrastructure must be protected.
International humanitarian law requires all parties of the conflict to distinguish between civilians and combatants and to respect and protect medical and humanitarian personnel and facilities.
SSA calls on all parties of the conflict to comply fully with their obligations under international humanitarian law and to allow safe, sustained and unimpeded humanitarian access to civilians in need.
We also call upon the United Nations, the African Union, the European Union, neighbouring countries and governments with influence over the parties to intensify diplomatic efforts to prevent further atrocities and bring the war to an end.
External military support continues to fuel Sudan’s war. States, companies, individuals and other actors must ensure that weapons, military equipment and other forms of support are not supplied or used in ways that contribute to violations of international humanitarian law.
Those responsible for serious violations against civilians must be held accountable.
Warnings came before the atrocities in El Fasher. Today there are warnings about El Obeid and North Kordofan. This time, the international community must act before it is too late.
SSA calls for:
An immediate end to attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure throughout Sudan;
The protection of civilians in El Obeid, Bara and communities throughout North Kordofan;
Full respect for hospitals, health workers, humanitarian personnel, humanitarian convoys and other protected civilian objects;
Safe, sustained and unimpeded humanitarian access to all affected areas;
International pressure on all parties and external actors contributing to the continuation or escalation of the war;
Accountability for serious violations of international humanitarian law; and
Renewed and meaningful efforts towards an immediate cessation of hostilities and a peaceful resolution of the conflict.
About the Swedish Sudanese Association
The Swedish Sudanese Association is a non-political, non-governmental and non-religious association. We are, however, not neutral when it comes to violations of human rights and human dignity.
In accordance with its constitution, SSA works to promote human dignity, human rights as defined in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and respect for the equal value of all people. SSA also works to strengthen social, cultural, educational and professional cooperation between Sweden and Sudan.
SSA has a particularly long and deep relationship with Kordofan and the communities around Bara and El Obeid, going back more than four decades.
From 1985 to 1997, SSA carried out extensive village-development projects in communities outside Bara in North Kordofan, with support from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). The work included solar-powered water pumps and wells providing access to clean water, agricultural and tree-planting projects, and community-based development.
In 1993, SSA built Knalle School (Knalleskolan) between three of the project villages outside Bara. The school was established to provide education for both girls and boys from the surrounding rural communities. A significant part of the funding was raised in Sweden by students at Marks High School in Västra Götaland (over 500,000 SEK in 4 years), and the school was named Knalle School (Knalleskolan) after the Swedish “Knalle” region where Marks High School is located in Västra Götaland, Sweden.
SSA continued supporting the school and surrounding communities for many years, including through a scholarship programme for Knalle School students and, later, through the SunWater project, which renewed the school’s well and solar-powered water system to provide clean drinking water for students, teachers and the surrounding community.
SSA also contributed to the construction of a women’s clinic at Bara Hospital and has maintained long-term cooperation with the University of Kordofan in El Obeid.
This history makes the current situation in Bara and El Obeid particularly close to SSA. These are communities where our association has worked with schools, hospitals, universities, villages and families for decades.
Most recently, through the Save Lives in Sudan initiative, SSA provided El Obeid Teaching Hospital with a solar-energy system supporting electricity for critical hospital wards and operational units.
More broadly, since the 1980s, SSA has supported healthcare in Sudan through medical equipment and essential supplies to more than 15 hospitals. Since the outbreak of the current war in April 2023, SSA has supported 13 hospitals and health centres in different parts of Sudan through diesel and solar-energy solutions, helping critical medical services continue despite the conflict and the collapse of basic infrastructure.
Much of this recent humanitarian work is carried out through Save Lives in Sudan, an initiative started by SSA and implemented in cooperation with Sudanese and Swedish organisations.
Our humanitarian work has brought us close to doctors, nurses, teachers, students, volunteers, patients, displaced families and communities struggling to survive this war.
For us, the consequences of this conflict are therefore not statistics. People we know are suffering collateral damage, communities we have worked with for decades and lives that can still be saved.
Sudan has already suffered far too much. El Obeid must not become another El Fasher.
The Sudanese people urgently need peace, protection, humanitarian assistance and the conditions necessary to survive, heal and rebuild their lives.
The Board of Directors
Swedish Sudanese Association (SSA)
Stockholm, 8 August 2026
[email protected]
Vi lever i den fasta övertygelsen att människor i Sverige och Sudan har mycket att ge och lära av varandra. Vi strävar efter att tillsammans göra något bra för framtiden både i Sverige och i Sudan.
