Mass Killings Follow RSF Seizure of Sudanese City

Horrific reports of ethnically motivated mass killings are emerging from El Fasher after the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) captured the city in Sudan’s Darfur region over the weekend.

The Joint Forces, allied with Sudan’s army, accused the RSF of executing over 2,000 unarmed civilians in recent days. Video footage released by activists showed fighters shooting groups of unarmed civilians at point-blank range, while other footage appeared to show dozens of bodies alongside burnt-out vehicles.

Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab found evidence consistent with mass killings, stating the city “appears to be in a systematic and intentional process of ethnic cleansing” targeting Fur, Zaghawa, and Berti Indigenous non-Arab communities through forced displacement and summary executions. The lab identified what appeared to be “door-to-door clearance operations.”

Nathaniel Raymond, the lab’s executive director, said satellite evidence showed bodies and red discoloration on the ground, comparing the violence to the first 24 hours of the Rwandan genocide. “I have never seen a level of violence against an area like we are seeing now,” he said.

The RSF announced Sunday it had seized control of the army’s main base, while Sudan’s army chief acknowledged withdrawing forces “to a safer location.” The capture of El Fasher, the last army-controlled major city in Darfur, gives the RSF control over all five Darfur state capitals—a significant turning point in the civil war that began in April 2023.

The UN Human Rights Office reported summary executions of civilians attempting to flee, with ethnic motivations indicated. Communications have been cut off by a media blackout, preventing journalists from contacting residents.

According to the UN, approximately 260,000 civilians, half of them children, remain trapped in the city without aid. More than 26,000 people have fled since Sunday, many heading to the nearby town of Tawila, where Médecins Sans Frontières reported treating 130 wounded, including 15 in critical condition.

There are grave fears of a repeat of the 2023 RSF massacres in Geneina, where up to 15,000 civilians, mostly from non-Arab groups, were killed.

The broader civil war has claimed over 150,000 lives and displaced more than 14 million people. With the army now excluded from a third of Sudanese territory, experts warn the country could face partition.