Geneva, Switzerland - UN Human Rights commissioner Volker Turk said Thursday he fears new "atrocities" in Sudan amid intense fighting between the army and paramilitary forces in the battleground Kordofan region.

Fighting has intensified across the three states that make up Kordofan as the Sudanese army seeks to keep the Rapid Support Forces and other groups away from a key road linking the capital Khartoum with the key Darfur region.

The UN Human Rights Council has already mandated one inquiry into alleged atrocities after the RSF seized the Darfur city of El-Fasher following an 18-month siege. The war that erupted in April 2023 has left tens of thousands dead and forced 12 million people to flee their homes, according to aid agencies.

Turk made a new call for a ceasefire so aid can be sent into threatened towns and said he "feared another wave of atrocities in Sudan amid a surge in fierce fighting across the Kordofan region" between the Sudanese army, the RSF, and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North, according to a statement released by his office.

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The statement added that since the RSF captured the Kordofan city of Bara on October 25, "the UN Human Rights Office has documented at least 269 civilian deaths from aerial strikes, artillery shelling, and summary executions."

It said toll was probably "much higher" as communications into the city was difficult.

"There have also been reports of retaliatory killings, arbitrary detention, abductions, sexual violence and forced recruitment, including of children," Turk added.

"It is truly shocking to see history repeating itself in Kordofan so soon after the horrific events in El Fasher," said Turk.

The statement highlighted a November 3 drone attack on a tent where mourners had gathered in El Obeid, North Kordofan, reportedly killing 45 people, mostly women. Another November 29 drone strike by the army in Kauda, South Kordofan, "reportedly resulted in the deaths of at least 48 people, most of them civilians."

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The UN rights office said that Kadugli and Dilling in South Kordofan were at particular risk because they "have been besieged by the RSF and SPLM-N," along with El Obeid in North Kordofan "which is partially surrounded by the RSF."

It said famine had been "confirmed" in Kadugli.

The intensified violence has seen more than 45,000 people fleeing their homes to seek safety within or outside the Kordofan region in the past month, it added.