Amnesty International on Wednesday released A new report concludes that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) committed crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing during their siege and capture of El Fasher in the Sudanese state of North Darfur.
The report entitled: City under siege, children under fire: crimes against humanity by the Rapid Support Forces in North Darfurdocuments the RSF’s slow and violent takeover of El Fasher. Amnesty claims that the abuses committed by the RSF between April 2023 and the RSF’s capture of El Fasher in October 2025 constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity. The report particularly highlights how civilians in North Darfur were subjected to widespread unlawful detention, torture and killing. Women and girls were raped and forced into sexual slavery, while children were often targeted by the militants.
Amnesty concludes that the RSF committed the following crimes against humanity: persecution based on ethnic identity, for the use of derogatory and dehumanizing language during the RSF’s attacks on civilians; Forced relocation due to the destruction of villages around El Fasher and due to the restriction of food imports to El Fasher during the siege; Imprisonment for mass incarceration of civilians, some of whom were raped or forced into forced labor; torture for rape and sexual violence against those kidnapped in raids and for beatings of detained civilians; and annihilation through the imposition of life-threatening conditions during the siege of El-Fasher and the deliberate killing of civilians during their takeover.
In February this year, an independent United Nations fact-finding mission determined that the mass killings and associated atrocities were committed by the RSF in October 2025 takeover of El Fasher exhibited “characteristics of genocide” against ethnic minority communities. The UN fact-finding mission found evidence that the RSF committed three genocides against the Zaghawa and Fur communities. The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) also released a report detailing human rights violations committed by the RSF during the takeover of El Fasher, which it said constituted war crimes.
The UAE has been criticized for supporting the RSF in its war against the Sudanese government. The conflict Conflict broke out in Sudan between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the RSF in April 2023.
