Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces carried out ethnically targeted killings, widespread sexual violence and enforced disappearances during their October takeover of El Fasher city in the Darfur region, an independent UN fact-finding mission has found.
In a report released on Thursday, the mission said the RSF's actions show “hallmarks of genocide” against non-Arab communities and indicate a persistent risk of further atrocities. The inquiry demanded that the perpetrators be brought to justice.
“The scale, co-ordination 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. “They formed part of a planned and organised operation that bears the defining characteristics of genocide.”
Sudan has been gripped by a war between its armed forces and the RSF since April 2023, which has devastated large parts of the country, displaced millions and led to one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
Reports of mass killings, sexual violence, abductions and looting emerged after the RSF's capture of El Fasher, which had been the army’s last holdout position in Darfur, in the west of the country.
Last month, the International Criminal Court found that war crimes and crimes against humanity were committed in El Fasher after a prolonged siege by the paramilitary group.
The UN mission noted that the evidence establishes that at least three underlying acts of genocide were committed: "killing 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”. The report was referring to the Zaghawa and Fur communities.
The inquiry focused on events in and around El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur province, after what the mission called an “18-month siege that progressively cut off civilians from food, water, medical supplies and humanitarian assistance”.
In its report, the mission said that the siege had “systematically weakened the targeted population through starvation, deprivation, trauma and confinement”, leaving many unable to flee when the assault came.
British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper described the findings as “truly horrific”.
“The UK called for this report to be commissioned by the UN in November to hold the perpetrators of these vile atrocities to account, and today I will take its conclusions to the chamber of the [UN] Security Council,” she said.
Ramadan truce
This week, Sudanese civil and political groups called on the warring parties to declare an immediate humanitarian truce to mark the start of Ramadan.
In a message addressed to the army and RSF leadership, the groups urged a full cessation of hostilities, protection for civilians and critical infrastructure and unhindered access for humanitarian aid. They noted that the conflict has persisted for more than 1,000 days, causing millions of Sudanese to face “unprecedented suffering”.
The groups also demanded the unconditional release of all detained civilians and the urgent initiation of prisoner exchange negotiations under international supervision, in line with humanitarian law and established international standards.
The signatories to the message included prominent political parties including the National Umma Party and the Sudanese Congress Party, as well as civil society groups within the Somoud coalition, currently led by former prime minister Abdalla Hamdok.
The conflict started when tension between Sudan's army chief and de facto leader, Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan, and RSF commander, Gen Mohamed Dagalo, over the future of the armed forces and the paramilitary group in a democratic Sudan erupted into fighting. The violence quickly engulfed the capital before spreading across most of the vast nation.
Regional and international mediators continue to struggle to secure a lasting ceasefire. Both of the warring sides have been accused by the UN of war crimes and atrocities against civilians. This month, US senior adviser for Arab and African Affairs, Massad Boulos, announced a “Comprehensive Peace Plan” for the country, but the rival generals have yet to agree.
Increase in fighting in Kordofan
The conflict's latest front line is the central Kordofan region, where the RSF began a broad offensive as the rainy season ended late last year.
A surge in drone strikes in Kordofan has taken a toll on civilians and hampered aid operations, humanitarian workers have said.
At least 76 people were killed and dozens injured this month in attacks on densely populated areas, mostly by the RSF, according to the Sudan Doctors Network, a medical group that tracks the country’s war. Many of the victims were civilians.
The military has increased its use of drones and air strikes in Kordofan over the past year as the conflict has shifted westward.
Earlier this month, the army announced that it had broken the long-time siege of Kadugli, in South Kordofan province, marking a significant battlefield victory and a shift in its fortunes. This came a week after it broke the RSF siege around Dilling, another city in the same province.
On Wednesday, Britain, Canada and the EU denounced possible war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sudan.
“We condemn the abhorrent violence against civilians, particularly women and children and all serious violations of international humanitarian law in the strongest terms,” they said in a joint statement. “These violations may amount to war crimes or crimes against humanity, and must be promptly and impartially investigated, with those responsible for international crimes brought to justice.”
