More than 6,000 people were killed in just three days last year when Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) overran the city of el-Fasher, according to a United Nations report citing survivors and eyewitnesses.
One witness described the chaos during the attack: "It was like a scene out of a horror movie," recalling how RSF fighters fired on around 1,000 people who had taken shelter in a university building, tossing bodies into the air as they struck.
The UN report details systematic mass killings, torture, abductions, sexual violence, and summary executions, calling them war crimes and possible crimes against humanity. While the RSF has denied previous allegations, it has not responded directly to this latest report.
Sudan has been trapped in an almost three-year conflict between the RSF and the regular army, which has killed hundreds of thousands and displaced over 13 million people. Sexual violence targeting men, women, and children has been used as a deliberate weapon of war, the report says. Both the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces have been accused of atrocities.
In Darfur, the US and Human Rights Watch have claimed that the RSF and its allies have carried out a genocide against the Massalit people and other non-Arab communities, though UN reports have not used that term.
El-Fasher, a major city in Darfur, experienced an 18-month siege and has become the site of some of the conflict’s most harrowing accounts. Testimonies from more than 140 victims and witnesses collected in Sudan’s Northern state and eastern Chad in late 2025 formed the basis of the UN findings.
The UN says that during the initial days of the assault, "at least 4,400 people were killed" within el-Fasher, with "over 1,600 others along exit routes as they fled." It adds that the actual death toll during the week-long offensive is likely much higher.
Volker Türk, UN Human Rights Chief, called on all parties in Sudan to halt what he described as grave violations committed by forces under their control.
International pressure is growing on supporters of the conflict to withdraw their involvement. The UAE has denied claims that it is the main arms supplier to the RSF, while the UK recently sanctioned six individuals accused of fueling Sudan’s war, including senior army and RSF commanders, and three foreign nationals linked to recruiting Colombian mercenaries for the RSF.
British lawmakers also questioned the sale of weapons to the UAE after UN reports suggested they were resold to the RSF. Responding, UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said, "The UK has extremely strong controls on arms exports, including to prevent any diversion. We will continue to take that immensely seriously."
Meanwhile, the RSF-affiliated Sudan Founding Alliance announced plans to form a rival government in western Sudan, a move rejected by the African Union, which warned it could threaten national unity.
