Sudan: Mass Atrocities in Captured Darfur City

Strategic Insights -

Thousands of people are fleeing the capital city of North Darfur, El Fasher, following the Rapid Support Forces' (RSF) takeover on October 26, 2025. The RSF's 18-month siege of the city has triggered famine in displacement camps, and the situation has worsened with the RSF's unlawful attacks on fleeing people. Human Rights Watch has verified videos showing RSF fighters carrying out extrajudicial killings, torture, and other serious violations against civilians. The organization warns that if the international community does not act urgently, civilians will bear the full brunt of more heinous crimes.

Key Takeaways:

  • Dozens of videos posted on social media show RSF fighters carrying out extrajudicial killings, torture, and other serious violations against civilians.
  • The RSF has a track record of carrying out mass atrocities against civilians in the aftermath of military victories, including the killing of hundreds of civilians in Ardamata, a suburb of El Geneina, in November 2023.
  • Human Rights Watch has documented that the RSF and its allies opened fire on a kilometers-long convoy of civilians and Sudanese Armed Forces and allied armed groups fighters fleeing West Darfur's capital, El Geneina, killing large numbers in June 2023.
  • The RSF's takeover of El Fasher took place as informal talks between the warring parties were reportedly underway in Washington, DC, under the auspices of the Quad, a group of officials from the United States, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the UAE.
  • The RSF has ignored repeated calls by the security council to end its siege on El Fasher, and has instead carried out large-scale attacks on civilians, including a drone strike that killed two civilians and injured two others in October 15.
  • Human Rights Watch has verified that civilians fleeing El Fasher have faced serious abuses along the way, including rape, pillaging, and killings, and that the RSF has used arms previously in the possession of the UAE military.
  • The RSF's deputy commander, Abdel Raheem Hamdan Dagalo, was mobilizing forces ahead of the decisive attack on the Zamzam camp, and the European Union, the United Kingdom, and other countries should urgently impose targeted sanctions on him and his brother, RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (known as "Hemedti"), for serious violations of international humanitarian law.
  • The international community needs to make clear to the RSF leadership that its attacks on civilians will have serious consequences, including by sanctioning the RSF leadership.

Statistics:

  • 75% of the 165 children under 5 screened by Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors without Borders) from El Fasher on October 18 and 19 were acutely malnourished.
  • Hundreds of fleeing people have reportedly been detained by the RSF.
  • 8 videos filmed next to the berm encircling the city, roughly 8 kilometers northwest of El Fasher, show RSF fighters celebrating over large numbers of dead men and women, both in uniform and civilian clothes, executing apparent civilians, and taunting, abusing, and killing severely injured people.
  • The medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors without Borders) reported a spike in drone strikes since September, which killed and injured civilians.

Sources:

  • Human Rights Watch, "Sudan: Mass Atrocities in Captured Darfur City", October 29, 2025, https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/10/29/sudan-mass-atrocities-in-captured-darfur-city
  • UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, warning that the "risk of further large-scale, ethnically motivated violations and atrocities in El Fasher is mounting by the day", October 27, 2025.