The ongoing conflict in Sudan has driven over two million people from their homes, according to a recent United Nations report. A U.N. official has expressed grave concerns that the escalating violence, particularly in the city of Genena in West Darfur, could potentially constitute crimes against humanity.

The current crisis began in mid-April when long-simmering tensions between the Sudanese military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) ignited into open warfare. The capital city of Khartoum and the Darfur region have been particularly hard hit by the fighting.

The Sudan Doctors Syndicate, which monitors civilian casualties, reports a grim toll of at least 959 civilian deaths and approximately 4,750 injuries as of June 12th. However, these figures may be significantly underestimated, especially considering the difficulties in accessing information from conflict zones like Genena, where hospitals have been incapacitated since the outbreak of violence.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has documented over 1.6 million internal displacements within Sudan, with people seeking refuge in safer areas. Additionally, around 530,000 individuals have crossed borders into neighboring countries, including Egypt, South Sudan, Chad, Ethiopia, the Central African Republic, and Libya.

The IOM’s Displacement Tracking Matrix indicates that all 18 of Sudan’s provinces have experienced displacement. Khartoum accounts for approximately 65% of the total displaced population, followed by West Darfur with over 17%.

In Genena, the situation has grown increasingly dire. Reports from local activists and U.N. officials detail widespread violence perpetrated by the RSF and allied Arab militias, resulting in hundreds of casualties. Disturbing accounts have also emerged of numerous sexual assaults against women, with the majority of these crimes attributed to the RSF.

Volker Perthes, the U.N. envoy to Sudan, has highlighted the ethnic dimension of the conflict in Genena, noting a pattern of targeted attacks against civilians based on their ethnicity. He warned that these attacks, if confirmed, could be classified as crimes against humanity.

Alice Wairimu Nderitu, the U.N. special adviser on the prevention of genocide, echoed these concerns, condemning the violence in Genena and warning of the potential for widespread atrocities, including ethnic cleansing.

The current conflict in Darfur draws unsettling parallels to the genocidal war that ravaged the region in the early 2000s. During that period, the government of former dictator Omar al-Bashir was accused of arming Arab Janjaweed militias who targeted civilian populations. These Janjaweed forces later evolved into the present-day RSF.