‘Shocking in scale and brutality’: UN warns of Sudanese paramilitary war crimes in El Fasher

Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have unleashed “a wave of intense violence…shocking in its scale and brutality” during their final push to seize the besieged city of El Fasher, a new UN report says.

The report, released on Friday by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), states that during the siege and subsequent capture of El Fasher, RSF fighters carried out atrocities that amount to war crimes and possible crimes against humanity.

Drawing on hundreds of interviews with victims and witnesses conducted in late 2025, OHCHR documented more than 6,000 killings in the first three days of the offensive.

It warned that the total number of people killed over the weeks-long assault is “undoubtedly significantly higher.”

In one incident on 26 October, about 500 people were killed when RSF fighters opened fire with heavy weapons on roughly 1,000 civilians sheltering at the Al-Rashid dormitory at El Fasher University. One witness described seeing bodies thrown into the air “like a scene out of a horror movie.”

Investigators also found evidence of summary executions of civilians inside the city. Young boys and men under 50 were targeted on accusations of “collaboration” with the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and allied Joint Forces, often based on their non-Arab ethnicity, including members of the Zaghawa community.

Survivors and witnesses described repeated cases of rape and gang rape, abductions for ransom involving sexual violence, and assaults during invasive body searches. Women and girls from the Zaghawa and other non-Arab communities were especially vulnerable.

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The findings show that the violence in El Fasher followed patterns seen in earlier RSF offensives, including the attack on Zamzam camp in April 2025.

The report says this “organized and sustained course of conduct” indicates a systematic assault on civilians across the Darfur region.

“The acts of violence knowingly committed as part of such an attack would amount to crimes against humanity”, OHCHR said.

OHCHR director Volker Türk urged all parties to end violations by forces under their command and called on countries with influence to help prevent further atrocities, including by respecting the arms embargo and stopping the flow of weapons.

He also urged support for local, regional, and international mediation efforts to secure a ceasefire and move toward inclusive civilian governance.

“In a protection crisis of this scale, human rights must remain central to efforts to achieve a durable resolution of the conflict,” he said.

Sudan’s national army and the RSF have been fighting for control of the country for nearly three years, a conflict marked by mass killings, summary executions, sexual violence, abductions for ransom, torture, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, looting, and the recruitment of children.

Many of the attacks have targeted civilians and those no longer taking part in hostilities, often on the basis of ethnicity or perceived affiliation.

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