Sudan's RSF accused of crimes against humanity in el-Fasher

The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary's siege and capture of the city of el-Fasher, Sudan, involved ethnic cleansing and other crimes against humanity, NGO Amnesty International said in research released on Wednesday.

Sudan's brutal civil war between the army and the RSF, which began in 2023, has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions.

An independent UN fact-finding mission in February concluded that the 2025 assault on the capital of North Darfur bore the "hallmarks of genocide."

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What did Amnesty say about the siege and capture of el-Fasher?

Amnesty interviewed 247 victims or witnesses between early 2024 and October 2025 in North Darfur for its report, entitled "City Under Siege, Children Under Fire: Rapid Support Forces' Crimes Against Humanity in North Darfur ."

It said that during the prolonged siege, RSF systematically attacked settlements around el-Fasher which housed the Zaghawa people, an ethnic group in western Darfur.

The report is one of several to allege widespread and deliberate violence against children including killing, abductions, forced recruitment, and rape.

Amnesty Secretary General Agnes Callamard described the conflict as a "war on civilians" and said that the world was warned about the risks during the protracted siege.

"It is a stain on the conscience of humanity,” Callamard said. "Children were not collateral damage of this violence — often, they were deliberately targeted and have suffered immensely. They have been killed, injured, raped, abducted, and forcibly recruited on a massive scale."

Callamard said that a nationwide ceasefire was "immediately needed," more than three years after the fighting broke out.

She called for an international force to be deployed to protect civilians, saying attacks on civilians and children "will continue unhindered" unless action is taken.

What is the situation in Sudan's civil war and el-Fasher?

A fragile alliance between Sudan's army and the RSF militia collapsed in 2023, leading to open war between the two forces by April of that year.

The RSF has made and held considerable gains in the west of the country, particularly in the Darfur regions,  leading to something resembling a de facto partition in the country.

The RSF, which can trace its roots back to the Janjaweed milita responsible for the genocide against non-Arab groups in Darfur starting in 2003, has set up a rival administration it calls the Government of Peace and Unity.

For more than a year, el-Fasher was among the last major cities in Darfur still controlled by the Sudanese Armed Forces. RSF forces surrounded the city before it ultimately fell in October 2025.

RSF forces closing in on another army-held city east of el-Fasher, el-Obeid, in recent months has prompted concerns of similar risks should that city fall.

What did Amnesty say about RSF ringleaders?

Amnesty's report said that the abuses happening "repeatedly and on a large scale" suggested that "those in positions of authority knew, or should have known, what was occurring, and failed to stop it or hold anyone accountable."

Amnesty said that RSF members filmed and publicly shared videos of some of the mass executions, and that it verified 19 videos showing one large massacre near a berm set up around the city, which prevented people from fleeing after the RSF moved in.

"Nine of these videos show RSF commander Al-Fateh Abdullah Idris, more widely known as 'Abu Lulu,' executing captives who were wearing civilian clothing," Amnesty said.

Abu Lulu appearing in such videos had long made him a symbol of the RSF atrocities in el-Fasher. Shortly after the offensive the RSF released a video showing Abu Lulu under arrested and being placed in a cell in an el-Fasher prison.

News outlets including Reuters have subsequently reported, citing sources in the RSF and Sudan's army, that Abu Lulu has been released and is leading troops again — claims the RSF denies.

The report also implicated two senior commanders at the Mina al-Bari detention facility. Major General Gedo Hamdan Ahmed Mohamed (or 'Abu Shouk') allegedly "directed interrogations and participated in torture," while Lieutenant Colonel Abbas Khater Bhakit "was seen ordering the torture of prisoners and facilitating payments."

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Edited by: Zac Crellin

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