A United Nations investigation has concluded that the paramilitary seizure of a major city in Sudan’s Darfur region last year displayed the hallmarks of a genocide. The report details a deliberate campaign of destruction aimed at specific ethnic communities.
The fact-finding mission found that following the capture of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, forces inflicted what is described as “three days of absolute horror.” Investigators determined that the actions were calculated to bring about the physical destruction of the Zaghawa and Fur ethnic groups. The mission’s chair stated that the scale and coordination of the operation, endorsed by senior leadership, indicate these were not random acts of war but part of an organized campaign with defining genocidal characteristics.
The conflict, which erupted in April 2023 between the national army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), has plunged the country into a severe humanitarian crisis. The RSF, which evolved from militias notorious for atrocities in Darfur two decades ago, has been accused of widespread violations.
The UN report, based on hundreds of witness accounts and verified evidence, documents systematic sexual violence against women and girls, including public gang rapes and assaults in locations where mass killings occurred. In one documented incident, a 12-year-old girl died after being raped by multiple fighters in front of her mother, following the killing of her father.
As the focus of fighting shifts to Sudan’s Kordofan region, the report warns of continued grave abuses. Recent drone strikes in the area, blamed on both warring factions, have killed dozens, including children in displacement camps.
The findings were released amid international condemnation of possible war crimes in Sudan. In response, the United States has imposed sanctions on several RSF commanders implicated in the El Fasher operation, accusing the force of carrying out ethnic killings, torture, and sexual violence.
The UN mission has called for decisive international action to hold perpetrators accountable and end the violence, which has displaced millions and created one of the world’s most severe humanitarian emergencies.
