Dozens of NGOs, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, called on Friday for international action to avert looming "atrocities" in the Sudanese city of El-Obeid .
In an open letter addressed to member and observer states to the United Nations Human Rights Council, the 38 NGOs urged the Geneva-based body to "urgently address the situation in and around El Obeid", and to "take bold steps towards atrocity prevention and accountability".
A strategic hub in the southern Kordofan region, the city has been encircled for months by the Rapid Support Forces , the paramilitary group that has been fighting Sudan's army since April 2023.
The UN has voiced fears that there could be a repeat of atrocities committed during the RSF's October 2025 assault on the Sudanese city of El-Fasher , which it said bore "hallmarks of genocide".
The international alarm has been mounting over the situation, with stark warnings sounded by the UN Security Council , Washington and several European countries over the past week.
"After 18 months of siege-like conditions", the situation around El-Obeid "appears at risk of an imminent ground offensive by the... RSF and their allied forces", Friday's letter said.
In light of this and "credible reports of risks of atrocity crimes, and risks of further violations throughout Sudan", the NGOs urged the rights council to "convene an urgent debate" during its ongoing session, which is due to conclude on 7 July, or a special session on the crisis "at the earliest opportunity" after that.
The council, they said, should then ask an independent UN fact-finding mission to "conduct an urgent inquiry into the situation".
"To prevent further atrocities," the NGOs also called on countries at the council to "unequivocally condemn external actors supporting the warring parties, including the United Arab Emirates".
Khartoum has repeatedly accused Abu Dhabi of supplying arms to the RSF.The UAE denies the allegations, despite several international reports pointing to its involvement.
One of those reports, recently published by Human Rights Watch , calls on global leaders to "break their silence on the insidious role of the UAE in fuelling this conflict".
Other external actors backing the RSF, Sudan's army or other warring parties in the country "should also be condemned and held to account for the violations they have either committed or enabled, some of which amount to crimes under international law", the NGO letter said.
The conflict in Sudan has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced more than 12 million people, according to the UN.