UN inquiry says RSF campaign in el-Fasher amounted to genocide
UN investigators said Sudan’s RSF carried out killings, mass rape and starvation in el-Fasher as concern grows over el-Obeid.
By Daniel Okafor · Business Editor
3 min read
A United Nations investigation has concluded that Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces committed genocide in el-Fasher through mass killings, gang rapes and deliberate starvation. The finding adds urgency to warnings about el-Obeid, another city now surrounded by RSF forces, where UN officials and governments fear further large-scale abuses.
The UN Fact-Finding Mission for Sudan released its report on Wednesday, saying the RSF and allied fighters carried out a systematic campaign against civilians during and after the siege of el-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state. The mission said the conduct formed part of an intentional policy.
Investigators said survivors described sexual assaults in rooms where the bodies of recently killed civilians, including relatives, remained on the floor. The report also found that the RSF and its allies committed the war crime of starvation by maintaining a long siege, blocking aid and shelling systems used to produce food.
The RSF has denied committing abuses during more than three years of war with Sudan’s military. It has said accounts of atrocities were fabricated by its enemies and has made counterclaims against them.
Warnings over el-Obeid
Mohamed Chande Othman, who chairs the UN mission, said the findings from el-Fasher should be read as a warning for el-Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan state in south-central Sudan. He cited patterns in el-Fasher that included encirclement, attacks on civilian infrastructure, limits on humanitarian access and broad abuses against civilians.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said last week that a “catastrophe” was developing around el-Obeid. His office has documented summary executions, abductions, torture and sexual violence in the surrounding area, according to the report.
Members of the UN Human Rights Council condemned the violence on Monday and established an urgent inquiry into reported abuses in the region. The United Kingdom and other states have warned that large-scale atrocities could occur as RSF forces gather around el-Obeid.
El-Obeid is now home to about half a million people, including more than 83,000 internally displaced people, according to the report. Fighting in recent weeks has intensified across the wider Kordofan region, shifting attention beyond Khartoum and Darfur, which have been the main focus for much of Sudan’s civil war.
Earlier findings expanded
The UN mission had said in February that killings of non-Arab communities when the RSF took el-Fasher bore signs of genocide. Its new report said investigators had gathered further evidence that the RSF’s actions, including killings, mass rape and starvation, were widespread, systematic and intended.
Othman said the international community should act on the lessons from el-Fasher to prevent another disaster. The report places renewed scrutiny on the RSF’s conduct as fighting continues across Sudan and aid access remains constrained in areas under pressure.
This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.