UN mission found RSF siege of El Fasher had 'hallmarks of genocide'
RSF deliberately targeted Zaghawa and Fur ethnic communities for destruction
Documented atrocities included mass killings, sexual violence, and systematic targeting
US has imposed sanctions on three RSF commanders over their roles in the siege
International community urged to take decisive action to end the violence
📖 Full Retelling
A UN-mandated fact-finding mission has determined that the siege and capture of the Sudanese city of El Fasher by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) group last October bore 'the hallmarks of genocide,' as the 18-month occupation deliberately targeted the Zaghawa and Fur ethnic communities for physical destruction. Mission chair Mohamed Chande Othman emphasized that the scale, coordination, and public endorsement by senior RSF leadership indicated these were not random acts of war but a planned operation with genocidal intent. The report details how RSF fighters inflicted 'three days of absolute horror' upon the population, with thousands killed, raped or disappeared, particularly from the Zaghawa ethnic group. The findings come amid escalating violence in Sudan's Kordofan region, where recent drone strikes have killed dozens, including children, and as the international community increasingly condemns the nearly three-year conflict between the RSF and Sudanese army. The war, which began in April 2023 after a falling out between former allies, has created what the UN calls one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, displacing 11 million people and killing tens of thousands. The investigators documented widespread sexual violence against girls and women aged seven to 70, including pregnant women who were attacked in front of family members. In one horrific incident, a 12-year-old girl was raped by three RSF fighters as her mother watched, moments after her father was killed while trying to shield her; the girl later died from her injuries. The report, based on interviews with 320 witnesses and victims and authenticated videos, calls for decisive international action to hold perpetrators accountable and end the violence, as the conflict's focus shifts from Darfur to Kordofan.
🏷️ Themes
Genocide, Human Rights Abuses, International Response
Intentional destruction of a large group of people
Genocide is the destruction of a people through targeted violence.
The term genocide was coined by Polish-Jewish lawyer Raphael Lemkin in the early 1940s. Lemkin lobbied for genocide to be outlawed by international treaty, but the Genocide Convention restricted his initially broad definition to five...
Systematic removal of a certain ethnic or religious group
Ethnic cleansing is the systematic forced removal of ethnic, racial, or religious groups from a given area, with the intent of making the society ethnically homogeneous. Along with direct removal such as deportation or population transfer, it also includes indirect methods aimed at forced migration ...
El Fasher (also alternatively rendered as Al-Fashir; Arabic: الفاشر, romanized: al-Fāshir) is a city in western Sudan. It serves as the capital of the North Darfur State, is located in the Darfur region of Sudan, and is 195 kilometres (121 mi) northeast of Nyala. A historical caravan post, El Fasher...
Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the southeast, and South Sudan to the south. Sudan h...
RSF siege of El Fasher in Sudan has ‘hallmarks of genocide’, UN mission finds Report details harrowing 18-month occupation of North Darfur capital, showing destruction aimed at ethnic communities The siege and capture of the Sudanese city of El Fasher by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces group last October bore “the hallmarks of genocide”, a UN-mandated fact-finding mission has said. In a report detailing the harrowing 18-month occupation of the capital of North Darfur, investigators concluded that the RSF and allied militias deliberately inflicted conditions calculated to bring about the physical destruction of the Zaghawa and Fur ethnic communities. “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 Mohamed Chande Othman, the mission’s chair, who called for a thorough investigation of the perpetrators. The report was published a day after the UK, Canada and the European Union denounced possible war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sudan during the nearly three-year war. Its release coincides with the latest wave of drone strikes that have left dozens dead across Sudan’s Kordofan region, an area where the UN has consistently said that grave abuses are taking place. Unicef said at least 15 children were killed this week when a drone struck a displacement camp in West Kordofan. Local rights defenders reported that another strike on a market in nearby North Kordofan left 28 people dead. Blame for the West Kordofan attack has been directed at the Sudanese army; while the RSF has been accused of carrying out the strike in North Kordofan. Since April 2023, the RSF has been waging war against the army after a falling out between its commander, Muhammad Hamdan Dagalo, and the army chief, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, former allies who came to power after the 2019 Sudanese revolution ousted longtime dictator Omar al-Bashir. The RSF ...
