A comprehensive United Nations investigation has exposed systematic atrocities committed by Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) during their October offensive in el-Fasher, Darfur, with documented evidence pointing to widespread war crimes and potential crimes against humanity.
The UN Human Rights Office’s 29-page report, released Friday, reveals that over 6,000 civilians were killed during a three-day period of ‘intense violence shocking in its scale and brutality’ between October 25-27. The paramilitary group and their allied Arab militias, known as Janjaweed, overran el-Fasher—the Sudanese army’s final stronghold in Darfur—on October 26 after an 18-month siege.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk, who recently visited Sudan, stated the offensive demonstrated ‘reasonable grounds’ for war crimes charges, noting that ‘persistent impunity fuels continued cycles of violence.’ The documented violations include mass killings, summary executions, sexual violence, abductions for ransom, torture, and enforced disappearances, many targeting the African Zaghawa non-Arab tribes.
The investigation, based on 140 victim and witness testimonies corroborated by satellite imagery and video footage, describes particularly horrific incidents. On October 26, RSF fighters opened fire with heavy weapons on approximately 1,000 people sheltering at Rashid dormitory in el-Fasher University, killing around 500. Witnesses described bodies being thrown into the air ‘like a scene out of a horror movie.’ That same day, some 600 people, including 50 children, were executed while seeking refuge in university facilities.
The actual death toll is believed to be ‘significantly higher,’ with additional massacres documented at the Saudi Maternity hospital (460 killed) and Abu Shouk displacement camp (300 killed). The report further details systematic sexual violence ‘used as a weapon of war’ against women and girls, plus the operation of at least 10 detention facilities—including a converted children’s hospital—where thousands remain missing.
The RSF, whose commander General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo has previously acknowledged some abuses while disputing their scale, did not respond to requests for comment. The conflict, which began in April 2023 as a power struggle between the RSF and Sudanese military, has created the world’s largest humanitarian crisis with famine conditions emerging across parts of Sudan.