The UN Fact-Finding Mission for Sudan in a new report presented on Wednesday finds that Rapid Support Forces (RSF) carried out mass killings, abductions of women and girls, mass gang rapes and forced starvation in El Fasher, north Darfur, as part of an intentional policy amounting to genocide.
The mission found the RSF besieged El Fasher for 18 months, cutting off food, water, medical supplies and humanitarian access, and repeatedly attacked the city with shelling and drone strikes. An RSF drone struck Al-Safiya Mosque during dawn prayers weeks before the city fell, killing around 70 people including 11 children.
Mission chair Mohamed Chande Othman warned that the patterns documented in El Fasher, including encirclement, attacks on civilian infrastructure and restrictions on humanitarian access, serve as a stark warning that the international community must heed to prevent further catastrophe.
“The international community must heed these lessons and act to prevent further catastrophe,” said Mohamed Chande Othman.
Britain and other states warned a similar catastrophe is unfolding around El Obeid, capital of North Kordofan, now home to half a million people including 83,000 displaced, with the UN Human Rights Council having set up an urgent inquiry this week.
The RSF denied all allegations, calling the accounts manufactured by its enemies.
Separately, unverified allegations are circulating among regional analysts and journalist Edy Cohen that Saudi Arabia has been conducting lobbying activity in Geneva aimed at shaping international narratives around responsibility for Sudan’s humanitarian crisis. The claims have not been independently confirmed by another source.
The UN Human Rights Council ordered an urgent inquiry on Monday into alleged abuses around Sudan’s besieged city of El Obeid, condemning escalating violence by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces as warnings grow over the risk of mass atrocities.
“El Obeid must not become the next crime scene,” warn UN investigators.
The situation in El Obeid could deteriorate even further, as attacks on critical infrastructure such as power stations have caused blackouts, disrupted water supplies and hampered hospitals’ ability to operate, says the UN.
Al-Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan state, has become a major flashpoint in Sudan’s war between the army and the RSF. The city is one of Sudan’s largest urban centres and has been under growing pressure as RSF forces mass nearby.
