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STORY: NAIROBI / TÜRK SUDAN PRESSER
TRT: 05:41
SOURCE: OHCHR
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 18 JANUARY 2026, NAIROBI, KENYA
1. Wide shot, press conference dais
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Volker Türk, High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“War has plunged the country into an abyss of unfathomable proportions because it affects all of the country and all people in Sudan.”
3. Wide shot, press conference
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Volker Türk, High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“But to those who believe the spirit of the struggle for peace, justice and freedom has been broken through nearly three years of warfare, I have news for you. That spirit is not broken.”
5. Close up, cameras
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Volker Türk, High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“I bore witness in Sudan to the trauma of the unspeakable brutality that people have suffered – but also to the resilience and defiance of the human spirit.”
7. Wide shot, press conference
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Volker Türk, High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“I met with young people who are the critical first responders to the needs of their communities – organising and delivering aid, often in the face of massive bureaucratic obstacles, risking detention and violence. Their clarity of purpose came through – as one civil society leader told me, ‘We don’t have the power to stop the war, but we will do what we can to keep civilians alive.’”
9. Med shot, press conference dais
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Volker Türk, High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“I met with women-led legal aid and humanitarian organisations, some of whom provide free professional assistance to women victims of violations and abuses linked to the war, again, at great risk to themselves.”
11. Med shot, journalists
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Volker Türk, High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“A chronicle of cruelty is unfolding before our very eyes – and we must not look away. This needs to shock our collective conscience. All those who have any influence – including regional actors and notably those who supply the arms and benefit economically from this war –need to act urgently to put an end to it.”
13. Wide shot, press conference
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Volker Türk, High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“At the Al Afad site in Ad Dabba locality that is now sheltering some 20,000 displaced people, in particular from El Fasher, I met a four-year-old who lost his hearing due to bombardment and now, clearly very traumatized, doesn’t play well with other kids. A three-year-old who wouldn’t smile.”
15. Wide shot, press conference
16. SOUNDBITE (English) Volker Türk, High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“I met Hawa*, who was working towards her master’s degree in psychology when she had to flee El Fasher after losing her 19-year-old son due to shelling. En route, she recounted that she was robbed, beaten, and her husband was abducted, detained, and tortured by RSF, who demanded a ransom of 10 million Sudanese Pounds, which amounts to some 2,860 US dollars.”
17. Close up, camera
18. SOUNDBITE (English) Volker Türk, High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“The commanders of this conflict, and those who are arming, funding, and profiting from this war, need to hear what 20-year-old Aisha*, now in Al-Afad, told me. In her words, ‘On 20 October, we were fleeing from El Fasher on a donkey cart. It was the only transport we could afford. On the road to Garni village, there were lots of dead bodies. We saw armed men on camels who said, « bring down the women. » My brother tried to stop them. They shot him in his legs. My mother started crying and said, « leave my children, take me instead of her. » They hit her, took me, and told me to keep quiet, or they will kill my mother. Then what happened, happened. My period has not come since then.’”
19. Wide shot, press conference
20. SOUNDBITE (English) Volker Türk, High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“Sexual violence is being used as a weapon of war, which is a war crime. And we have more and more indications that this is widespread and systematic.”
21. Med shot, press conference dais
22. SOUNDBITE (English) Volker Türk, High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“The proliferation of advanced military equipment, in particular unmanned aerial vehicles – or drones – across Sudan has enhanced the military capabilities of both the RSF and SAF to inflict vast damage, prolonging hostilities, and deepening the crisis for civilians. It is despicable that large sums of money are being spent on procuring increasingly advanced weaponry – funds that should be used to alleviate the suffering of the population.”
23. Wide shot, press conference
24. SOUNDBITE (English) Volker Türk, High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“I keep asking myself. What is it that those who wage this war want to achieve? Why would anyone in their right mind jeopardize the lives of so many people?”
25. Med shot, press conference dais
26. SOUNDBITE (English) Volker Türk, High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
Again, I leave with a plea that human rights be central to building confidence and bringing this war to an end, to resuming the difficult task of building a sustainable peace. It is certainly very difficult, but it is not impossible, and I feel very much encouraged by the people, by the Sudanese people who I had a chance to meet, their resilience and their power of not giving up.”
27. Wide shot, press conference
Following his five-day visit to Sudan, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, today (18 Jan) told journalists in Nairobi that “war has plunged the country into an abyss of unfathomable proportions because it affects all of the country and all people in Sudan.”
Türk travelled to Port Sudan, as well as in Dongola and the localities of Ad Dabba and Merowe in Northern State.
“But to those who believe the spirit of the struggle for peace, justice and freedom has been broken through nearly three years of outrageous war on civilians, I have news for you. That spirit is not broken,” Türk stated.
“I bore witness in Sudan to the trauma of the unspeakable brutality that people have suffered – but also to the resilience and defiance of the human spirit,” he said.
“I met with young people who are the critical first responders to the needs of their communities – organising and delivering aid, often in the face of massive bureaucratic hurdles, risking detention and violence. Their clarity of purpose came through – as one civil society leader told me: We don’t have the power to stop the war, but we will do what we can to keep civilians alive,” Türk said.
“I met with women-led legal aid and humanitarian organisations providing free professional assistance to women victims of violations and abuses linked to the war, again, at great risk to themselves,” he said.
“A chronicle of cruelty is unfolding before our very eyes – and we must not look away. This must shock our collective conscience. All those who have any influence – notably those who supply the arms, benefit economically from this war –need to act urgently to put an end to it,” Türk said.
He told journalists that he had “met a four-year-old who lost his hearing due to bombardment and now doesn’t play well with other kids. A three-year-old who wouldn’t smile.”
“I met Hawa*, who was working towards her master’s degree in psychology when she had to flee El Fasher after losing her 19-year-old son due to shelling. En route, she recounted that she was looted, beaten, and her husband was abducted, detained, and tortured by RSF, who demanded a ransom of 10 million Sudanese Pounds (USD 2,860),” Türk said.
“The commanders of this conflict, and those who are arming, funding, and profiting from this war, need to hear what 20-year-old Aisha*, now in Al-Afad, told me. In her words, On 20 October, we were fleeing from El Fasher on a donkey cart. It was the only transport we could afford. On the road to Garni village, there were lots of dead bodies. We saw armed men on camels who said, « bring down the women ». My brother tried to stop them. They shot him in his legs. My mother started crying and said, « leave my children, take me instead of her ». They hit her, took me, and told me to keep quiet, or they will kill my mother. Then what happened, happened. My period has not come since then,” the High commissioner recounted.
He said, “women and girls’ bodies have been weaponised,”
“Sexual violence is being used as a weapon of war. This is a war crime. And we have more and more indications that this is widespread and systematic,” he stated.
“The proliferation of advanced military equipment, in particular unmanned aerial vehicles – or drones – across Sudan has enhanced the military capabilities of both the RSF and SAF to inflict vast damage, prolonging hostilities, and deepening the crisis for civilians. It is despicable that large sums of money are being spent on procuring increasingly advanced weaponry – funds that should be used to alleviate the suffering of the population,” Türk said.
“No one in his right mind could think that continued fighting is the answer. And I keep asking myself. What is it that those who wage this war want to achieve? Why would anyone in their right mind jeopardize the lives of so many people? he stated.
“Again, I leave with a plea that human rights be central to building confidence and bringing this war to an end, to resuming the difficult task of building a sustainable peace. It is difficult, but certainly not impossible, with the resilience and power of the Sudanese people,” the High Commissioner concluded.
During his visit he met with national and local authorities, with local and international NGOs, humanitarian actors, journalists, lawyers and people who had to flee extreme violence, brutality, even famine, in El Fasher in North Darfur, and have now taken refuge in the Al Afad shelter for internally displaced people in Ad Dabba locality in Northern State, 1,200 kilometres away.
He first visited Sudan in November 2022. He said he was deeply inspired by the spirit, the energy, and the dynamism of civil society, particularly the youth and women who led the 2018 revolution.
