Sudan: UN investigation finds RSF committed genocide in el-Fasher
A UN investigation in Sudan has concluded that the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces' (RSF) violent seizure of the city of el-Fasher bears the "hallmarks of genocide".
The conquest of the North Darfur state capital in late October resulted in "three days of absolute horror", according to the report.
"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," said the mission's chairman, Mohamad Chande Othman.
The report demanded that the perpetrators of these crimes be brought to justice.
"Our findings indicate that events in and around el-Fasher in 2025 point to... acts of genocide by the RSF," it said.
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Sudan's war broke out in April 2023, when tensions over a transitional political plan that would have folded the RSF into the regular military exploded into violence.
Tens of thousands of people have been killed, 13 million have been displaced, and Sudan is now divided between an internationally recognised government in Khartoum and the RSF's rival administration in Nyala, Darfur.
UAE accused of complicity
Regional powers have become embroiled in the conflict, with the UAE in particular coming in for scrutiny over its widely reported funding and support for the RSF, a claim the state has continued to deny.
The UAE has also faced accusations of complicity in genocide at the International Court of Justice, in a case filed by the government of Sudan in April, but which has been stuck over a lack of jurisdiction.
The UN mission interviewed 320 witnesses and victims from el-Fasher and the surrounding areas for its report, as well as conducting investigative visits to Chad and South Sudan.
Testimony spoke of indiscriminate shootings and mass executions, with the roads filled with the bodies of men, women and children.
The report said widespread sexual violence targeted women and girls from non-Arab communities, particularly the Zaghawa, "immediately following the takeover of el-Fasher".
"Women and girls ranging from seven to 70 years old, including pregnant women, were subjected to rape," it said.
The UN previously said 6,000 people were killed in just three days after the RSF takeover of el-Fasher, while British MPs were briefed that more than 60,000 people may have been killed overall.
As many as 150,000 residents of the city are still unaccounted for.
When the UN first gained access to el-Fasher in December 2025, Denise Brown, the UN resident and humanitarian coordinator for Sudan, described the area as a "crime scene".
Speaking to Middle East Eye last month, Brown said “much of the town is destroyed”, adding that heavy shelling has left widespread contamination from unexploded ordnance and landmines.
“We’re limiting our movements to paved roads. We don’t want to drive over anything we can’t see," she said.
She said UN teams had focused on hospitals, markets and displaced populations, delivering water purification tablets, chlorine, health supplies and nutritional assistance for malnourished children. Clean water remains one of the most urgent needs.
'Women and girls ranging from seven to 70 years old, including pregnant women, were subjected to rape'
– UN report
“Pumps have been destroyed because of the war, so people are not able to access clean water,” Brown said, warning of renewed cholera outbreaks.
The World Food Programme last month estimated that between 70,000 and 100,000 people may still be trapped inside el-Fasher and unable to flee.
Brown said she was unable to give precise figures for civilians still in the city, but stressed that the UN’s repeated visits underscored the scale of need.
“These people have been living under siege for more than 500 days. The economy is disrupted, agricultural production is disrupted. Basic social services – I don’t think we can say they even exist.”
'I have seen the bodies'
A report from the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab in December found that the RSF was conducting a campaign to cover up mass atrocities in el-Fasher, including destroying evidence by burying and burning bodies.
According to victims and aid workers who have spoken to MEE, the RSF has forcibly extracted blood from civilians attempting to flee el-Fasher.
Multiple witnesses said the paramilitary group has carried out mass executions of civilians based on their ethnicity or their perceived political ideology, as well as countless cases of rape and sexual violence.
At the beginning of November, Mohamed Hassan told MEE from el-Fasher: “I have seen the bodies in Daraja Oula… The RSF entered the neighbourhood one by one and fired on everybody.”
Hamid Adbul Rahim, who arrived in Tawila after walking for many days, told MEE that the RSF arrested many of his family members and then “called me and my uncle, asking us to pay 15 million Sudanese pounds (around $500) for each of them”.
Satellite imagery of el-Fasher analysed by Yale’s Humanitarian Research Lab showed “38 instances of reddish discolouration consistent with blood or other bodily fluids”, according to the report – which means that spilt blood could be seen from space.
This attack has been one of the bloodiest episodes since the war in Sudan began in April 2023, leading to what the UN has called the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.
Although Abu Dhabi denies the charge, mounting evidence points to the United Arab Emirates as the main sponsor of the RSF.
The scale of atrocities carried out in the aftermath of the capture of el-Fasher has prompted an international backlash, with frequent protests and a focused lobbying campaign against the UAE.
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