Sudan: Mass killings, other RSF atrocities indicator of genocide – UN report

A report by a Mission backed by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, titled “Hallmarks of Genocide in El-Fasher”, has shown that the Rapid Support Force (RSF) carried out mass killing, rape and detention of civilians in El-Fasher. The conflict in Sudan since April 2023 involves the internationally recognised government controlled by the […]

A report by a Mission backed by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, titled “Hallmarks of Genocide in El-Fasher”, has shown that the Rapid Support Force (RSF) carried out mass killing, rape and detention of civilians in El-Fasher.

The conflict in Sudan since April 2023 involves the internationally recognised government controlled by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by Muhammad Hamdan Dagalo Musa.

At its 38th Special Session of 14 November 2025, the Human Rights Council had adopted resolution S-38/1, requesting a Mission to conduct an urgent inquiry into the recent violations and abuses of international human rights law allegedly committed in and around El-Fasher and identify, where possible, all those for whom there are reasonable grounds to believe that they are responsible.

The Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan said that mass killings and related atrocities, committed by the RSF in and around El-Fasher during its takeover of the city on or around 26 and 27 October 2025, are indicators of a genocidal path.

These crimes followed an 18-month siege during which the RSF deliberately imposed conditions of life calculated to bring about the physical destruction of non-Arab communities, in particular the Zaghawa and the Fur.

The report indicates that the conduct in El-Fasher is an aggravation of earlier patterns of mirror attacks against other non-Arab communities elsewhere in Sudan, but on a far more lethal scale.

The siege and eventual takeover of El‑Fasher unfolded against a backdrop of repeated warnings, clearly identified atrocity risk indicators, and escalating conduct consistent with mass atrocity crimes under international law.

According to the report, the RSF exhibited a pervasive, consistent and identifiable operational pattern characterised by ethnically discriminatory targeting, encirclement and siege tactics, and systematic violence against civilians across Darfur.

“In West Darfur, including El Geneina and surrounding areas, the Mission previously found that the Rapid Support Forces and allied Arab militias repeatedly attacked predominantly non-Arab communities, particularly the Masalit, through persistent waves of indiscriminate killings, sexual violence, torture, looting and destruction of homes and infrastructure.

“These attacks were frequently accompanied by discriminatory and humiliating slurs. Civilians were deliberately isolated, escape routes blocked, and fleeing populations attacked,” it said.

Mass killings, raping

The report shows how survivors narrated widespread killings, including indiscriminate shootings and point-blank executions of civilians in homes, streets, open areas or while attempting to flee the city, particularly in the neighbourhoods that had previously been protected by the Sudanese Armed Forces or the Joint Forces, including Daraja Oula and Abu Shouk neighbourhoods, the Grand Market area, and the airport.

They described individuals being gunned down in the streets, trenches and public buildings where they were hiding, while bodies of men, women and children filled the roads.

Several survivors reported lying down among corpses pretending to be dead on the roads out of El-Fasher when vehicles of the RSF approached.

From 26 October 2025, the RSF rounded up those trying to leave the city at three main exit points: on the northern axis towards Mellit; at El-Fasher – Garni road (northwest); and on the El-Fasher – Tawila road (southwest), according to the report.

These three exits led to areas not under the control of the Rapid Support Forces.

At these exit points, survivors described the RSF separating men from women and children, while beating, detaining or executing them, and accusing them of supporting the Sudanese Armed Forces and/or Joint Forces.

The report also noted widespread, systematic and coordinated acts of sexual violence primarily targeting women and girls from non-Arab communities, particularly the Zaghawa. Women and girls ranging from 7 to 70 years old, including pregnant women, were subjected to rape and other forms of sexual and gender-based violence. This included acts of killing, whipping, beatings, humiliation, forced nudity, and sexual harassment while looting of their belongings. Survivors reported that numerous women were raped during the same incidents, which indicates that the cases documented by the Mission represent only a fraction of a far wider pattern.

The Mission also collected a substantial body of corroborated information demonstrating that widespread rape, mass and gang rape, abduction, and other forms of sexual violence began immediately following the takeover of El-Fasher.

Recommendations

Considering its findings, and given that the conduct documented in and around El-Fasher presents indications pointing to genocide, as well as war crimes and crimes against humanity, the Mission called on the international community to act without delay to protect civilians and prevent further atrocities.

It also urged the international community to fully enforce and expand the arms embargo, prevent the transfer of weapons, equipment, financial and logistical support to parties credibly implicated in serious violations, and use all available diplomatic, political, and preventive tools to halt further mass violence.

The Mission also called for secure unrestricted humanitarian access into El-Fasher and the guarantee of free movement of the remaining civilian population there.

“Ensure accountability and deter further crimes, including through targeted sanctions against those who aid or abet the commission of international crimes, by fully cooperating with the International Criminal Court and expanding its jurisdiction, and considering the establishment of a judicial mechanism working in tandem with the Court to advance accountability for perpetrators at all levels and ensure justice for victims.

“Encourage the documentation of violations and the preservation of evidence for accountability processes, including ensuring access for investigative bodies, including the Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan, into El-Fasher to document and preserve evidence and ascertain the fate of missing and detained persons.

“Ensure protection for lawyers, human rights defenders, humanitarian workers, medical workers, journalists and civil society actors, who remain at grave risk,” the Mission added.