It concluded: “El Fasher appears to be in a systematic and intentional process of ethnic cleansing of … indigenous non-Arab communities through forced displacement and summary execution”.
More than a quarter of a million people had taken refuge in the city under starvation and bombardment, in what had been the last army stronghold in the vast Darfur region.
Sudan’s 2½-year-long civil war has rekindled ethnic bloodshed in the region, with RSF fighters accused of massacring black African groups to take their land.
The RSF is largely drawn from Arab militias and formed from the notorious Janjaweed, responsible for genocide and mass atrocities in Darfur 20 years ago. Its capture of other enclaves, including El Geneina in 2023, led to ethnic massacres of thousands of people. Refugees and aid workers have spent the past 18 months warning that similar atrocities were likely if El Fasher fell.
Cameron Hudson, a former US National Security Council director for Africa, said: “We have seen what is unfolding in El Fasher before.
RSF fighters celebrate in the streets of El-Fasher on Sunday, in an image taken from the RSF Telegram account.Credit: AFP
“It was two years ago in El Geneina and as the RSF took the city, it initiated a campaign of ethnic cleansing and genocide. It’s happening again and still we do nothing. Shame on them. Shame on us.”
In another scene, several militants dressed in the RSF’s trademark brown uniforms and turbans are seen packed into a truck, chasing unarmed civilians as they run for their lives.
Gunfire rings out as one fighter shouts “kill the Nuba”, a reference to Sudan’s black African tribes.
Reports indicate that the RSF is deliberately forcing displaced civilians eastward into areas under their control, effectively a no-man’s land, and away from humanitarian hubs such as Tawila, where some international agencies are operating.
Residents gather to receive free meals in El Fasher in August.Credit: AFP
According to Jeremy Konyndyk, president of Refugees International, the RSF is preventing people from fleeing the town in other directions, specifically blocking movement south and west, and compelling them to move east, where there is no safety or access to aid.
British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “We are witnessing a deeply disturbing pattern of abuses in El Fasher, including systematic killings, torture, and sexual violence.”
The UN Human Rights Office said it had received “multiple, alarming reports that the RSF are carrying out atrocities, including summary executions”.
UN rights chief Volker Türk said the risk of further large-scale, ethnically motivated violations and atrocities in El Fasher was “mounting by the day”.
Patients infected with cholera are treated at a refugee camp in Tawila, in western Sudan, last month.Credit: AFP
Sudan’s catastrophic civil war is well into its third year and the UN and aid agencies say the fighting has produced the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
Rivalry between the de facto president, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and his deputy, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, flared into open fighting in April 2023.
Fighting has forced 14 million to flee their homes and some estimates have put the death toll at up to 150,000. The health system has collapsed and several parts of the country have been plunged into famine.
Sudan’s head of the military, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, in 2021.Credit: AP
A UN fact-finding mission has accused both sides of committing an “appalling range of harrowing human rights violations and international crimes”, including mass rape, arbitrary arrests, and torture.
The rivals have turned to regional allies for help, with the United Arab Emirates accused of backing the RSF with supplies and mercenaries through Chad and Libya.
Sudan’s army has meanwhile reportedly been supported by Egypt, Russia and Iran.
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The UAE strongly denies supporting either side and says it has been pushing for a ceasefire.
The country is part of the so-called Quad of nations, alongside the United States, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, that has been leading efforts to find a negotiated peace.
The Telegraph, London
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