MOHAMED AKASHA
FOR nearly two years, the city of El Fashir, the capital of North Darfur, endured a prolonged siege by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia, a group descended from the Janjaweed militias that operated during the earlier Darfur conflict.
According to reports from humanitarian agencies and international observers, residents faced indiscriminate artillery shelling, drone strikes, starvation, and a systematic destruction of hospitals and civilian infrastructure.
In late October 2025, the situation escalated dramatically when the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), which had been defending the city, withdrew.
According to SAF officials, the withdrawal was intended to prevent further civilian casualties after RSF forces allegedly used chemical agents, including Sarin gas, during intensified bombardments.
On October 26, 2025, RSF forces entered the city. Eyewitness accounts, rights organisations, and United Nations (UN) reporting describe what followed as mass killings, ethnically targeted violence, sexual violence, and widespread destruction that some international actors have referred to as genocide.
A siege that became a massacre
Before the city fell, El Fashir had already been pushed to the brink. The Washington Post reported that civilians were “reduced to eating leaves and animal feed” during the siege, as RSF fighters blocked aid deliveries and targeted water infrastructure.
When RSF forces advanced into the city, killings escalated rapidly. Rights groups estimate that over 2,000 civilians were killed in just two days, between October 26 and 27, 2025.
The UN Human Rights Office confirmed receiving reports of summary executions and said patterns point to ethnically motivated attacks.
Earlier in 2025, RSF attacks on El Fashir and surrounding displacement camps, including the Abu Shouk IDP camp, had already killed more than 180 civilians within a month.
Satellite imagery and independent investigations by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International showed entire neighbourhoods, markets, and medical centres burned or destroyed, mirroring similar patterns of RSF assaults in West Darfur.
Witnesses described fighters pursuing fleeing families, executing men, and committing sexual violence.
UN response: “A horror beyond words”
On October 30, 2025, during a UN Security Council briefing, Marta Ama Akyaa Pobee, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Africa, condemned the violence, stating that RSF fighters had carried out house-to-house killings and targeted families attempting to escape.
She noted that the atrocities appeared to be driven by ethnic motives. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk echoed these findings, warning that the situation posed a high risk of “large-scale, ethnically motivated atrocities”.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs described El Fashir as “a city under siege and under attack”, with civilians unable to flee and humanitarian assistance blocked.
Hospitals were looted and aid convoys prevented from entering. The United Kingdom’s (UK) Ambassador to the UN stressed that those responsible would be held to account, reinforcing calls for unrestricted humanitarian access.
In the aftermath of the briefing, the UN Security Council issued a formal statement condemning the RSF assault and expressing grave concern over reports of ethnically targeted killings and sexual violence.
International condemnation
The assault on El Fashir prompted widespread global condemnation. The African Union, UN, European Union, and several national governments denounced the violence, describing RSF actions as “barbaric”, “indiscriminate”, and potentially genocidal.
A joint statement by the United States (US), UK, France, and Germany demanded an immediate halt to attacks on civilians and warned that RSF leaders and foreign sponsors could face international accountability mechanisms.
Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Médecins Sans Frontières, and other humanitarian organisations published reports documenting credible evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
US lawmakers have taken formal action as well. In April 2024, members of the Senate and House of Representatives requested that President Joe Biden determine whether RSF leadership meets criteria under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, citing gross human rights violations.
Following the fall of El Fashir, on 30 October 2025, a bipartisan group of US senators urged the US government to consider designating RSF as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation, specifically referencing the mass killings in El Fashir.
Sexual violence and ethnic targeting
Multiple reports document that sexual violence was used systematically during RSF operations.
According to health workers and rights monitors, more than 100 cases of rape were recorded between January and October 2025, targeting women primarily from the Zaghawa, Fur, and Berti ethnic groups.
Additional reporting from Darfur24 described attacks in surrounding villages, where civilians were killed and women were assaulted.
The UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide warned that the pattern of violence could constitute genocidal acts.
Survivors from El Fashir recounted door-to-door executions, forced expulsions from ethnically identified neighbourhoods, and the burning of displacement camps that had sheltered families since the early 2000s.
The UN Fact-Finding Mission on Sudan concluded that the RSF committed murder, torture, sexual slavery, and persecution with ethnic, gender, and political motives. Humanitarian agencies estimate that over 600,000 civilians remain trapped without access to food, water, or medical supplies.
Alleged external support
Multiple investigations by media outlets including The New York Times, CNN, and The Guardian have linked the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to covert support for RSF operations.
These investigations allege that weapons and drones were supplied to RSF through networks in Chad and Darfur.
The UN Panel of Experts confirmed the presence of foreign-supplied drones used in strikes that hit civilian areas.
While the UAE denies involvement, Western diplomats and UN investigators continue to warn that foreign logistical support is enabling RSF to sustain military operations despite the UN arms embargo.
A crisis of accountability
The fall of El Fashir is seen by many observers as a test of international resolve, recalling past failures to stop atrocities in Rwanda and Srebrenica.
As mass graves are identified and satellite evidence mounts, human rights organisations argue that without decisive action, impunity will continue to fuel further crimes.
El Fashir now stands as a symbol of both human suffering and the inadequacy of global response mechanisms in the face of atrocity crimes.
Whether accountability follows may determine how history remembers the city — as a place where the world acted, or where it looked away.
The author is an international security and diplomacy expert.
