Human rights experts supported by the United Nations are calling for the deployment of “impartial troops” in war-torn Sudan

They blamed both sides for war crimes such as murder, mutilation and torture and warned that foreign governments supplying them with weapons and money could be complicit.

In its first report since being established by the UN's top human rights body last October, the fact-finding group also accused the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which are fighting the Sudanese army, and their allies of crimes against humanity, including rape, sexual slavery and persecution on ethnic or gender grounds.

“The people of Sudan have suffered greatly and the attacks against them must stop. This cannot happen without ending the fighting,” Mohamed Chande Othman, the team's chairman, said at a press conference.

The experts called for an extension of the arms embargo against the western Sudanese region of Darfur to the entire country.

The findings of the team commissioned by the 47-country Human Rights Council come at a time when more than ten million people have been displaced from their homes – more than two million of them to neighboring countries – and famine has broken out in a large camp for displaced people in Darfur.

The conflict, which broke out in April last year, has left thousands dead and humanitarian organizations are struggling to gain access to those in need. In December, under pressure from the military leadership, the UN Security Council decided to end the world organization's political mission in the country.

Although the killings, displacement and starvation have long been known, the call for the creation of an independent force is the latest sign of desperation among human rights activists at home and abroad who want to put an end to the bloodshed, displacement and food crisis.

“Given the failure of the parties to date to protect civilians, the Fact-Finding Mission recommends the deployment of an independent and impartial force with a mandate to protect civilians in Sudan,” the team's report said.

The experts did not specify what forces this force might consist of, nor did they say which countries might be involved in the crimes through their support of rival sides. Sudan's military has accused the United Arab Emirates of supporting the RSF, a claim the Gulf state denies.

Neighbouring Egypt is also among the supporters of the Sudanese armed forces.

“The Commission of Inquiry believes that fighting will stop once the flow of weapons stops,” the report says. It calls for an immediate end to the supply of arms, ammunition and other support to each side, “as there is a risk that the arms suppliers will become complicit in serious human rights violations and violations of international humanitarian law.”

The experts focused on the period from January to August this year. They visited three neighboring countries and collected statements from more than 180 survivors, relatives and witnesses of the conflict, which has now spread to 14 of Sudan's 18 states.

According to Joy Ngozi Ezeilo, a member of the team, conflict-related sexual violence in Sudan has a “long and tragic history” and civilians – mostly women and girls – “have been and continue to be victims of sexual violence, particularly rape and gang rape by both parties to the conflict.”

Earlier this month, talks in Geneva convened by the United States, Switzerland and Saudi Arabia made some progress in providing aid to Sudan, but mediators criticized the lack of involvement of Sudanese forces. The talks also involved Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, the African Union and the United Nations.

The team has little influence on events on the ground in what the United Nations has described as the world's worst humanitarian crisis. Its report serves primarily to draw the international community's attention to human rights violations and to inform prosecutors at the International Criminal Court.

Othman told the Associated Press that the team had not gathered any “concrete evidence” about which countries were supplying weapons and money to the rival sides beyond what it could gather from media reports, but said the matter was “worth investigating.”

“A person or agency should be appointed to investigate this matter as the matter is a serious matter in the context of the ongoing war in Sudan,” he said.