El Fasher Genocide: How the RSF Militia Turned Darfur into a Killing Field
By Ambassador: Mohamed Osman Akasha
The Terrorist Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia has been besieging the city of El Fashir for almost two years, during which the people of this historic city bore the brunt of the indiscriminate artillery shelling, drone attacks, starvation, and destruction of hospitals. When the genocidal militia intensified its notorious shelling using chemical agents, mainly Sarin gas, the Sudanese Armed Forces decided to withdraw from the city to prevent further mayhem and harm to the inhabitants of El Fashir. The infamous militia entered the city of El Fashir, capital of North Darfur, on 26 October 2025. What followed was mass extermination, a premeditated slaughter of civilians, ethnic cleansing, and an orgy of violence that resembles one of the most brutal genocides on the globe.
The RSF militia, descended from the Janjaweed militias, bombarded El Fashir with all types of lethal weapons and Sarin gas shells. Survivors describe fighters opening fire on fleeing families, dragging men from homes, and raping women in the open. Hospitals, markets, and displacement camps became hunting grounds for RSF militia death squads.
From Siege to Genocide
For months before that, El Fashir was a city under siege, starved, bombarded, and encircled by the militia, artillery, and drones. The Washington Post reported that residents were “reduced to eating leaves and animal feed” as RSF militia forces blocked aid and bombed water supplies [^14]. When they entered the city, the siege became slaughter.
Over 2,000 unarmed civilians were executed in two days (26–27 Oct 2025), many shot in their homes or burned alive in shelters. The UN Human Rights Office verified dozens of summary executions and warned of “a pattern of ethnically targeted violence” [^4].
Earlier in the year, RSF militia bombardments on El Fashir and the Abu Shouk displacement camp killed more than 180 civilians in less than a month[^13]. Satellite imagery released by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International showed entire districts, hospitals, and marketplaces reduced to ash[^9][^10]. Even hospitalized patients who were not able to flee were killed inside hospitals in El Fashir.
“A Horror Beyond Words”: UN Condemnation
During the UN Security Council briefing on 30 October 2025, Marta Ama Akyaa Pobee, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Africa, issued a stark warning:
“The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and their allied militias are believed to have carried out mass killings of civilians in El Fashir, summary executions during house-to-house searches, and shootings of families trying to flee. Reports received by the UN Human Rights Office indicate that these attacks were targeted along ethnic lines. The situation is simply horrifying.”[^1][^5]
Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, condemned “appalling reports of summary executions, ethnic targeting, and sexual violence by RSF,” warning that “the risk of large-scale, ethnically motivated atrocities in El Fashir is mounting by the day.”[^4]The Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs described El Fashir as “a city under siege, under attack, civilians unable to flee, hospitals looted, aid blocked”[^11].
The UK Ambassador to the UN, James Kariuki, added: “Reports of atrocities, including targeted killings, torture, and sexual and gender-based violence by the RSF are horrifying. The world will hold the RSF leadership accountable for the crimes committed by their forces.”[^7]That same day, the UN Security Council issued a formal statement condemning the RSF assault[^3].
International Condemnation and Global Outrage
The atrocities in El Fashir triggered an unprecedented wave of international condemnation. The United Nations, African Union, and European Union each issued statements denouncing the militia’s actions as “barbaric,” “indiscriminate,” and “possibly genocidal”[^23][^25].
The United States, United Kingdom, France, and Germany jointly called on the RSF to cease attacks on civilians, warning that commanders and foreign sponsors “will be held responsible for these crimes”[^24].
Senators Cardin and Risch, along with Representatives McCaul and Meeks, sent a formal letter to President Joe Biden asking for a determination under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act regarding the RSF[^29].
On 30 October 2025, U.S. Senators Risch and Shaheen led a bipartisan call to consider designating the RSF a Foreign Terrorist Organization[^30].
Rape as a Weapon of War
Health workers and rights monitors documented over 100 cases of rape between January and October 2025, committed by terrorist RSF fighters against women from the Zaghawa, Fur, and Berti ethnic groups[^13].
A confidential Darfur24 report details that in March, RSF fighters attacked villages west of El Fashir, killing 30 civilians, raping four women, and displacing 50,000 families[^12].
UN Special Adviser Alice Wairimu Nderitu warned that “the scale and pattern of attacks by RSF on ethnic communities in El Fashir may amount to genocidal acts”[^16].
Ethnic Cleansing by Design
Survivors recount door-to-door executions, forced expulsions, and the torching of IDP camps.
The UN Fact-Finding Mission on Sudan concluded that the RSF committed murder, torture, sexual slavery, and persecution “with ethnic, gender, and political motivations” [^17].
Over 600,000 civilians remain trapped without food, medicine, or clean water [^11]. Hospitals have been destroyed, doctors executed, and aid workers abducted.
The UAE’s Silent Partnership in Atrocity
Investigations by The New York Times, CNN, and The Guardian reveal that UAE-funded cargo planes and drones reached RSF strongholds in Chad and Darfur via covert routes[^18][^19][^20].
Despite denials, Emirati arms and fuel shipments persisted even as RSF massacres escalated, making the UAE a de facto accomplice in what human-rights experts increasingly describe as a genocide[^21].
UN investigators warn that continued external financing and resupply enable the RSF to prolong its campaign of extermination[^22].
A Crime Without Consequence
El Fashir’s tragedy mirrors the world’s failure. The same Janjaweed militias, rebranded as RSF, are committing atrocities with modern weaponry.
As UN officials warn of genocide and humanitarian agencies unearth mass graves, the international community faces a moral choice: act decisively to hold the RSF militia and its backers accountable—or accept complicity through silence.
If impunity prevails again, El Fashir will not only be remembered as the city that fell but as the place where humanity surrendered its conscience.
References
1. United Nations Security Council Briefing, Remarks by Marta Ama Akyaa Pobee, 30 Oct 2025.
2. The Guard News “UN leaders condemn horrifying mass killings in Sudan,” 30 Oct 2025.
3. Reuters: “UN Security Council condemns RSF assault on Sudan’s al-Fashir,” 30 Oct 2025.
4. UN OHCHR: “Appalling reports of summary executions and other serious violations by RSF in Sudan,” 28 Oct 2025.
5. Security Council New Report: “Sudan: Briefing and consultations,” 30 Oct 2025.
6. Al Jazeera: “UN warns of RSF atrocities in El Fashir as army withdraws,” 28 Oct 2025.
7. UK Mission to the UN: “The world will hold the RSF leadership accountable,” 30 Oct 2025.
8. Associated Press: “UN: 53 civilians killed in El Fashir attacks,” 29 Oct 2025.
9. Human Rights Watch: “New Wave of RSF Atrocities in Darfur,” Oct 2025.
10. Amnesty International: “Targeted ethnic violence and sexual assaults in El Fashir,” Oct 2025.
11. OCHA: “Sudan Humanitarian Update: El Fashir under siege,” Oct 2025.
12. Darfur24: “RSF attacks west of El Fashir displace 50,000 families,” Mar 2025.
13. Sudan Tribune: “RSF bombardment kills 180 civilians in El Fashir and Abu Shouk,”
14. Washington Post: “Trapped and starving in El Fashir,” Sept 2025.
15. ABC News (Australia): “Over 2,000 civilians killed in El Fashir massacre,” Oct 2025.
16. UN Press Statement by Alice Wairimu Nderitu, UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, Oct 2025.
17. UN Fact-Finding Mission on Sudan: “Ethnic targeting and atrocities by RSF militias,” Oct 2025.
18. The New York Times: “UAE arms shipments sustain Sudan’s RSF fighters,” Dec 2024.
19. CNN Investigation: “Covert Emirati support for RSF militias through Chad,” Sept 2024.
20. The Guardian: “Arms pipeline from the Gulf to Darfur,” Oct 2024. 21. Foreign Policy and BBC Africa: “Funding networks behind Sudan’s militias,” 2025.
22. UN News: “UN leaders condemn atrocities and ethnic targeting in Sudan’s El Fashir,” 30 Oct 2025.
23. European Union External Action Service: “EU condemns RSF’s atrocities in Darfur,” 29 Oct 2025.
24. U.S. Department of State: “Statement on RSF atrocities and ethnic cleansing in Darfur,” 29 Oct 2025.
25. African Union Peace and Security Council Communiqué on the situation in Sudan, 30 Oct 2025.
26. Human Rights Watch: “Mass killings and ethnic cleansing by RSF in El Fashir,” Oct 2025.
27. Amnesty International: “Systematic targeting of civilians and ethnic violence in Darfur,” Oct 2025.
28. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) “Medical facilities attacked as RSF assaults El Fashir,” 28 Oct 2025.
29. U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Press Release, 19 Apr 2024.
30. U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Press Release, 30 Oct 2025.
About the Author
Ambassador Mohamed Osman Akasha, PhD
Chargé d’Affaires a.i., Embassy of the Republic of the Sudan in Nairobi
Ambassador Akasha holds a doctorate in International Security and Diplomacy and has written extensively on regional security, counterterrorism, and the geopolitics of the Horn of Africa.
Published by Brown Land News.
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