A report released by the UN Human Rights Office has accused the Rapid Support Forces and allied militias of unleashing a wave of extreme violence during their final offensive to seize the besieged city of El Fasher in October last year, actions that investigators say may constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity. Based on interviews with more than 140 victims and witnesses conducted in late 2025, the findings describe a coordinated campaign of killings, sexual violence, abductions, and destruction following an 18-month siege.
According to the report, more than 6,000 people were killed in the first three days of the assault alone. At least 4,400 deaths occurred inside the city, while more than 1,600 civilians were killed along escape routes as they attempted to flee. Investigators believe the actual death toll from the week-long offensive is significantly higher, citing the difficulty of documenting casualties amid ongoing conflict and displacement.
The investigation concluded that RSF fighters and allied Arab militias carried out widespread attacks against civilians, including mass executions, torture, enforced disappearances, and the recruitment and use of children in hostilities. Many of the assaults were allegedly directed at individuals based on ethnicity or perceived allegiance to the Sudanese Armed Forces, indicating patterns of deliberate targeting rather than incidental harm.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said the scale and brutality of the violence demonstrate how entrenched impunity has fueled recurring cycles of abuse. He called for credible and impartial investigations to establish criminal responsibility at all levels of command, stressing that accountability could be pursued through domestic courts, universal jurisdiction in foreign states, or international mechanisms such as the International Criminal Court.
Investigators found reasonable grounds to believe the perpetrators committed multiple war crimes, including intentionally targeting civilians, launching indiscriminate attacks, using starvation as a method of warfare, assaulting humanitarian and medical personnel, committing rape and other sexual violence, and engaging in large-scale pillage. The report argues that these acts form part of a broader, systematic campaign against the civilian population in the Darfur region.
The findings also link the El Fasher offensive to earlier documented attacks in Zamzam camp in April 2025 and in the cities of El Geneina and Ardamata in 2023, suggesting what investigators describe as an organized and sustained pattern of violence.
Witness testimonies detail incidents of mass killings in areas where civilians had gathered for shelter. In one of the deadliest reported घटनes, around 500 people were killed on 26 October when RSF fighters opened fire with heavy weapons on approximately 1,000 civilians taking refuge at El Fasher University. Survivors described scenes of devastation, with bodies thrown into the air by the blasts.
The report further documents summary executions of civilians accused of collaborating with opposing forces, with adolescent boys and men under 50 reportedly singled out. Survivors also recounted systematic sexual violence, including rape and gang rape, used as a weapon of war, along with abductions for ransom and invasive searches targeting women and girls.
In addition to killings and assaults, the UN identified at least ten detention sites operated by RSF forces in El Fasher, where detainees were held in severely inadequate conditions that led to disease outbreaks and deaths in custody. Thousands of people remain missing, and families continue searching for relatives who disappeared during the offensive.
The UN has urged all parties to the conflict to halt violations and called on states with influence to respect the existing arms embargo and cease supplying weapons or military material. It also appealed for intensified diplomatic efforts to secure a ceasefire and move toward inclusive civilian governance, warning that without accountability and protection of human rights, the cycle of violence is likely to continue.
