El Fasher, North Darfur — Sudan's brutal civil war escalated this week after the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) captured El Fasher following roughly a 17-month siege. Witnesses, aid agencies and U.N. officials have reported mass killings, summary executions and organized sexual violence as tens of thousands fled the city.
What has been reported
Aid organizations warned that more than 60,000 people left El Fasher but only about 5,000 reached Tawila, some 30 miles away across desert terrain, raising fears that many thousands may be missing, trapped or dead. The United Nations' Assistant Secretary-General for Africa, Martha Ama Akyaa Pobee, told the U.N. Security Council there was no safe corridor for civilians to escape.
“In the past week, the U.N. human rights office has documented widespread and serious human rights violations in and around El Fasher,” Pobee said, citing credible reports of mass killings during house-to-house searches and summary executions as civilians tried to flee.
Survivor testimony, video evidence reviewed by U.N. investigators, and satellite imagery analyzed by researchers have together documented multiple alleged atrocities. The United Nations Human Rights Office said it had seen videos showing “dozens of unarmed men being shot or lying dead, surrounded by RSF fighters.” The Humanitarian Research Lab at Yale corroborated alleged executions around the Saudi Hospital and identified signs consistent with a large killing at a former children’s hospital site.
Reported incidents and human toll
Local medical and humanitarian groups say the Saudi Hospital — reportedly the last functioning hospital in the city during the siege — was the scene of one of the deadliest episodes. A World Health Organization spokesman reported that gunmen abducted staff and subsequently that at least 460 people, including patients and hospital personnel, were killed in attacks on or near the facility; several medical workers are reported detained.
The Sudan Doctors Network said RSF fighters killed at least 1,500 people as civilians tried to escape and described the events as “a true genocide.” Survivors recount fighters going house to house, beating and shooting civilians, and rounding up groups of men who were later executed. One survivor described an attack by fighters on camelback who gathered hundreds of men and took them to a reservoir where many were killed.
The U.N. human rights office also reported credible allegations of organized sexual violence. A spokesperson said at least 25 women were gang-raped after RSF personnel entered a shelter for displaced people near El Fasher University.
Humanitarian crisis and displacement
El Fasher had been a major refuge for people displaced from other parts of Sudan; the U.N. estimated roughly 260,000 people were living there in late August. Widespread hunger and a communications blackout have complicated verification and relief efforts. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said those who reached Tawila were predominantly women, children and the elderly suffering catastrophic malnutrition; others arrived with gunshot wounds after hiding by day and travelling by night to evade armed groups.
Tom Fletcher, the U.N.'s top humanitarian official, warned that women and girls are being raped, people are being mutilated and killed with impunity, and that tens of thousands are on the move facing extortion and violence along perilous routes. Aid workers say the numbers arriving in neighboring towns do not account for the scale of those reported missing.
Responses and background
An RSF commander denied the massacre reports, calling them “media exaggeration” in an interview with Reuters. International and U.S. lawmakers have urged strong action; some U.S. senators and representatives have called for consideration of designating the RSF as a terrorist organization and for stricter enforcement of arms embargoes. The United Arab Emirates has denied providing support to the RSF and pointed to a U.N. Panel of Experts report that found no substantiated evidence linking the UAE to RSF support.
The RSF traces its roots to forces mobilized during the Bashir era and was formally established in 2013. It has been fighting the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) since civil war erupted in April 2023. Both sides have faced accusations of war crimes during the conflict, which has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions. Widespread hunger has intensified: the Famine Review Committee declared famine in parts of Darfur in August 2024, and the U.N. estimates more than half of Sudan’s population now needs humanitarian assistance.
Note: Verification remains difficult because of communication blackouts, restricted access and ongoing insecurity. Numbers and reports come from multiple humanitarian organizations, local networks and U.N. offices and are still being investigated.
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