Members of the UN Security Council on Saturday warned of possible atrocities and a worsening humanitarian crisis in Sudan as the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) advance towards the city of El-Obeid in Kordofan state.
The council called on the RSF not to launch an attack on the city, which lies in a strategic area linking central and western Sudan.
The warning came days after UN Secretary General António Guterres urged the international community to press Sudan's warring parties to avoid further bloodshed.
He warned against a repeat of atrocities reported during the RSF's capture of Al-Fashir in the Darfur region late last year. According to the UN human rights office, more than 6,000 people were killed in the city over three days.
Sudan has been engulfed in civil war for more than three years, with the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), led by de facto ruler Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, battling the RSF, commanded by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, for control of the country.
The United Nations has described the conflict as the world's largest humanitarian crisis. More than 11.5 million people have been displaced by the fighting, while roughly half of Sudan's population faces hunger.
Human rights groups have accused both sides of committing serious abuses during the conflict.
