UN Probe Finds Signs of Genocide in El-Fasher
Last update: February 19, 2026
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Investigation details mass killings, sexual violence, and targeted attacks by RSF...
The UN’s independent fact-finding mission on Sudan said on Thursday that the paramilitary siege and capture of El-Fasher showed “the hallmarks of genocide.”
The investigation found that the Rapid Support Forces’ takeover of the Darfur city last October caused “three days of absolute horror” and called for those responsible to be held accountable.
Since April 2023, fighting between Sudan’s army and the RSF has killed tens of thousands and forced 11 million people to flee, creating one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
The UN Human Rights Council set up the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for Sudan in October 2023 to collect evidence of violations.
Following the RSF capture of El-Fasher after an 18-month siege, the mission investigated alleged atrocities in and around the city.
The report concluded that thousands of people, particularly from the Zaghawa non-Arab ethnic group, were killed, raped, or disappeared.
The mission interviewed 320 witnesses and survivors in Sudan, Chad, and South Sudan and verified 25 videos documenting the abuses.
Survivors reported mass killings, indiscriminate shootings, executions at exit points, detention, torture, humiliation, extortion, ransom, and disappearances.
Widespread sexual violence targeted women and girls from non-Arab communities, especially the Zaghawa. Victims ranged from seven to 70 years old, including pregnant women.
CBI News reports that sexual violence often accompanies mass killings, with rapes occurring in locations such as El-Saudi Hospital and El-Fasher University.
In one case, a 12-year-old girl was raped by three RSF fighters in front of her mother after her father had been killed. She later died from her injuries.
The mission reported that at least 19 women were publicly gang-raped in rooms filled with corpses, including the remains of their husbands, highlighting the extreme brutality of the RSF’s operation.
