UN Report: RSF Attack On Sudan’s El-Fasher Leaves 6,000 Dead
UN reports at least 6,000 deaths in three days during RSF offensive on Sudan’s El-Fasher.
A United Nations human rights report has revealed that more than 6,000 people were killed over a three-day period during a brutal offensive by Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and allied Arab militias in El-Fasher, a city in North Darfur, last October. The assault, described by U.N. officials as shockingly violent, included mass killings and widespread atrocities that may constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity.
According to the U.N. Human Rights Office report, the RSF offensive aimed to seize control of El-Fasher — the last stronghold of the Sudanese Armed Forces in Darfur — following an 18-month siege. At least 4,400 civilians were killed inside the city between October 25 and 27, while more than 1,600 others lost their lives as they tried to flee the violence along evacuation routes. Investigators say the actual death toll over the week-long campaign is “undoubtedly significantly higher.”
The report documents a range of egregious abuses, including mass executions, summary killings, sexual violence, abductions for ransom, torture, arbitrary detentions, and disappearances. Heavy weapons were reportedly used against civilians sheltering in university dormitories, resulting in hundreds of deaths, and hospitals and displacement camps also came under attack. Human rights investigators conducted interviews with more than 140 survivors and witnesses, supported by satellite imagery and video footage.
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Sexual violence was reportedly systematic, with women and girls from non-Arab communities targeted by fighters. Thousands of people were also arrested or abducted, with some held in makeshift detention facilities, including a children’s hospital repurposed as a prison. The fate of thousands more remains unknown and unaccounted for.
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk stressed that persistent impunity fuels cycles of violence in Sudan’s protracted civil war, which began in April 2023 and has already produced one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises. Turkey and other U.N. officials called for credible, impartial investigations to establish criminal responsibility, including for commanders and superiors.
The offensive in El-Fasher is part of a broader pattern of abuses by the RSF and allied militias across Darfur, mirroring previous atrocities in places such as the Zamzam displaced persons camp and West Darfur’s Geneina. As the conflict continues, international human rights groups have urged accountability and increased protections for civilians caught in the violence.
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