At least 6,000 killed in three days during RSF attack on el-Fasher in Sudan, UN says

CAIRO – More than 6,000 people were killed in three days when a Sudanese paramilitary group unleashed “a wave of intense violence … shocking in its scale and brutality” in Sudan’s Darfur region in late October, according to the United Nations.

The Rapid Support Forces’ offensive to capture the town of el-Fasher involved widespread atrocities amounting to war crimes and possible crimes against humanity, the U.N. Human Rights Office said in a report released Friday.

“The deliberate violations committed by the RSF and allied Arab militias in the final offensive on el-Fasher underscore that continued impunity fuels ongoing cycles of violence,” said Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The RSF and their allied Arab militias, known as Janjaweed, captured el-Fasher, the Sudanese army’s only remaining stronghold in Darfur, on October 26, rampaging through the city and its surroundings after more than 18 months of siege.

The 29-page UN report details a series of atrocities ranging from mass killings and summary executions, sexual violence, kidnappings for ransom, torture and ill-treatment to detention and disappearances. In many cases the attacks were ethnically motivated, the report said.

The RSF did not respond to an emailed request for comment.

General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo of the paramilitaries has previously acknowledged abuses by his fighters, but disputed the extent of the atrocities.

‘Like a scene from a horror movie’

The alleged atrocities in el-Fasher, the provincial capital of North Darfur, reflect a pattern of RSF behavior in its war against the Sudanese army. The war began in April 2023 when a power struggle between the two sides culminated in open fighting in the capital Khartoum and elsewhere in the country.

The conflict caused the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, with parts of the country plunged into famine. The country is also marked by horrific atrocities that the International Criminal Court says it is investigating as war crimes and crimes against humanity. The RSF was also accused by the Biden administration of committing genocide in the ongoing war.

The UN Human Rights Office said it has documented the killing of at least 4,400 people in el-Fasher between October 25 and 27, while more than 1,600 others were killed as they tried to flee the RSF disaster. The report said it took a toll on interviews with 140 victims and witnesses, which were “consistent with independent analysis of contemporaneous satellite images and video footage.”

In one case, RSF fighters opened fire with heavy weapons on October 26 on a crowd of 1,000 people sheltering in the Rashid dormitory of el-Fasher University, killing around 500 people, the report said. One witness said he saw bodies thrown into the air, “like a scene from a horror movie,” the report said.

In another case, about 600 people, including 50 children, were executed on October 26 while seeking shelter in university facilities, the report said.

However, the report warned that the actual scale of the death toll from the week-long offensive in el-Fasher was “undoubtedly significantly higher”.

According to the World Health Organization, the toll does not include at least 460 people killed by the RSF on October 28 when they stormed the Saudi maternity hospital.

About 300 people were also killed in RSF shelling and drone strikes between October 23 and 24 in the Abu Shouk camp for displaced people, 2.5 kilometers northwest of el-Fasher, the UN Human Rights Office report said.

Woman and girls sexually abused

Sexual violence, including rape and gang rape, was apparently widespread during the el-Fasher offensive, with RSF fighters and their allied militias targeting women and girls from Africa’s Zaghawa non-Arab tribes over accusations of ties to or support for the military, the report said.

Türk, who visited Sudan last month, said survivors of sexual violence provided testimonies showing how the practice was “systematically used as a weapon of war.”

The paramilitaries also kidnapped many people as they tried to flee the city, before releasing them after paying ramson. Thousands have been held in at least 10 detention centers – including the city’s children’s hospital that was converted into a detention center – run by the RSF in el-Fasher, the report said.

The UN Human Rights Office also said it has documented 10 detention centers used by the paramilitaries in el-Fasher, including the children’s hospital-turned-detention center. According to the report, several thousand people are still missing and missing.

The pattern of the RSF offensive on el-Fasher mirrored other attacks by the paramilitaries and their allies on the Zamzam camp for displaced people, 15 kilometers south of the city, and on the town of Geneina in West Darfur and the nearby town of Ardamata in 2023, the UN Human Rights Office said.

Türk said there were “reasonable grounds” that RSF and their allied Arab militias committed war crimes, and that their actions also amounted to crimes against humanity.

He called for those responsible – including commanders – to be held accountable and warned that “continued impunity fuels ongoing cycles of violence.”