El-Fashir, Sudan — Human rights groups have raised alarms over mass atrocities committed by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) after capturing the besieged city of El-Fashir in North Darfur. Thousands of civilians are feared dead following the paramilitary group’s takeover of the regional capital.
The city fell on Sunday after an 18-month RSF siege, during which access to food and basic supplies was blocked for hundreds of thousands of residents. According to the United Nations, Sudan’s ongoing civil conflict over the past two and a half years has killed around 40,000 people and displaced 12 million.
Reports from El-Fashir indicate that by Wednesday, approximately 2,000 people had been killed, according to Sudan’s Armed Forces (SAF), while the Sudan Doctors Network confirmed at least 1,500 deaths. Around 1.2 million people had been trapped in the city during the siege, surviving on limited resources, with some forced to eat animal feed. RSF had constructed 56-kilometer (35-mile) barriers to block escape routes and aid deliveries.
Videos verified by Al Jazeera’s Sanad fact-checking agency show RSF fighters executing and torturing civilians. Local medical and human rights organizations report mass killings, arbitrary detentions, and attacks on hospitals. The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights noted that summary executions were carried out against fleeing civilians, with indications that killings may have been ethnically motivated. In just two days, over 26,000 people fled El-Fashir, most walking 70 km (43 miles) west to Tawila, according to the UN. About 177,000 civilians remain trapped.
Violence has also spread to neighboring North Kordofan’s Bara, where RSF reportedly targeted civilians and aid workers. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies confirmed that five Sudanese volunteers were killed and three went missing in Bara. Bara is located near El-Obeid, a strategic city still under SAF control but threatened by RSF advances.
El-Fashir and El-Obeid are strategically important. El-Fashir was the last major city in Darfur not under RSF control, and its fall effectively splits the country between SAF-controlled east and RSF-controlled west. El-Obeid, the oil-rich capital of North Kordofan, connects Darfur to Khartoum and serves as a critical SAF-RSF buffer. RSF now controls Darfur entirely, threatening SAF positions in neighboring regions.
SAF leader General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan said troops withdrew from El-Fashir to protect civilians from “systematic destruction and killings,” vowing to seek revenge. Foreign Minister Hussein El Emin accused the international community of inaction. RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo claimed the group aims to unify Sudan under “true democracy” and insisted those committing crimes against civilians would be held accountable.
RSF originated from the Janjaweed militias, which fought for former President Omar al-Bashir during the Darfur conflict in 2003. They were formalized as RSF in 2013 and gained independent security powers in 2017. RSF played a role in Bashir’s ousting in 2019 and later in the 2021 coup against civilian Prime Minister Abdullah Hamduk.
The current conflict erupted on 15 April 2023, when tensions between RSF and SAF leadership over integration and command escalated into open warfare. Both sides have been accused of atrocities. The U.S. State Department labeled RSF and its allied groups responsible for genocide in Darfur earlier this year.
The primary concern remains civilian lives. Sudanese human rights groups warn that RSF’s control over El-Fashir could lead to further massacres, especially targeting non-Arab communities. Witnesses report door-to-door executions, mass detentions, and widespread sexual violence.
Strategically, El-Fashir secures RSF’s control over Darfur, a region rich in gold and bordering Chad, Libya, and South Sudan. International efforts to halt the conflict, led by Saudi Arabia, the U.S., and the African Union, have so far failed to secure a lasting peace. A recent U.S.-led plan proposes a three-month humanitarian ceasefire and a nine-month transition to civilian control. Talks continue, but the situation remains highly uncertain following El-Fashir’s fall.
