A United Nations fact-finding mission has determined that atrocities carried out during the siege and takeover of the Sudanese city of El Fasher bear the “hallmarks of genocide”, condemning the conduct of paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) fighters in Darfur during the ongoing conflict.
El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, fell to RSF forces at the end of October after an 18-month blockade that systematically deprived civilians of food, water, medical care and humanitarian assistance. Investigators say the prolonged siege deliberately weakened targeted communities before the final assault.
“The body of evidence we collected — including the prolonged siege, starvation and denial of humanitarian assistance, followed by mass killings, rape, torture and enforced disappearance, systematic humiliation and perpetrators' own declarations - leaves only one reasonable inference,” said fact-finding mission expert Mona Rishmawi. “The RSF acted with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, the Zaghawa and Fur communities in El-Fasher. These are the hallmarks of genocide.”
The report concludes that at least three underlying acts of genocide were committed, including the killing of members of a protected ethnic group, causing serious bodily and mental harm, and deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the group’s physical destruction in whole or in part.
Investigators were unable to enter El Fasher directly but based their findings on more than 320 interviews with survivors, statements from RSF commanders, and corroborated video footage and satellite imagery. The report describes how thousands of people, particularly from the Zaghawa community, were killed, raped or disappeared during what it calls “three days of absolute horror” after the city’s fall.
The UN mission found that RSF forces and allied militias carried out ethnically targeted killings and widespread sexual violence, including against girls and women aged between seven and 70. Survivors described assaults carried out in front of family members and in locations where mass killings had already taken place.
Mohamed Chande Othman, chair of the mission, said the operation was not the result of isolated acts of violence but a coordinated campaign.
“The scale, coordination, and public endorsement of the operation by senior RSF leadership demonstrate that the crimes committed in and around El Fasher were not random excesses of war,” he said. “They formed part of a planned and organised operation that bears the defining characteristics of genocide.”
The investigators named RSF leader Lt Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, and spokesperson Lt Col Al-Fatih Al-Qurashi, citing their public statements and endorsements of the operation. The report notes that while Hemedti acknowledged some “violations” and described El Fasher as a “catastrophe”, he justified the assault as necessary.
The RSF has not commented on the report and has previously denied allegations of genocide.
The UN mission also warned that the assault on El Fasher reflects a continuation of earlier patterns of ethnically targeted violence in Darfur, now carried out on a more lethal scale. Investigators stressed that despite repeated warnings from the international community, no effective measures were taken to protect civilians, leaving the population defenceless.
Sudan’s civil war, which erupted in April 2023 following a power struggle between the Sudanese army and the RSF, has displaced more than 11 million people and killed tens of thousands. The RSF itself emerged from the Janjaweed militias that carried out mass atrocities in Darfur in the early 2000s, when hundreds of thousands were killed and millions displaced.
The latest report also points to the involvement of foreign actors, noting that the RSF’s campaign was reinforced by foreign mercenaries equipped with advanced weaponry and communications systems. Although the mandate did not include a full investigation into external support, the United Arab Emirates has been widely reported as a key backer of the RSF, a claim it continues to deny.
UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper described the findings as “truly horrific” and said she would present them to the UN Security Council, calling for international criminal investigations and an end to the flow of arms fuelling the conflict. “The world is still failing the people of Sudan,” she said, adding that the Security Council must act to secure a ceasefire and humanitarian access.
The UN fact-finding mission has called on the international community to enforce and expand the arms embargo on Darfur, impose targeted sanctions, cooperate with the International Criminal Court, and establish a judicial mechanism to ensure accountability. It warned that without urgent action, the risk of further genocidal acts “remains serious and ongoing”.