Sudan: Genocidal Campaign Waged Against Sudan’s Non-Arab Communities – UN Report
Geneva – Sudan’s Independent International Fact-Finding Mission says in a new report that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) carried out a coordinated destruction campaign against non-Arab communities in the north of the country, pointing to genocide.
The campaign took place around El-Fasher, and the mission said on Feb. 19 that the evidence given to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva establishes that at least three underlying acts of genocide were committed.
“The scale, coordination, and public endorsement of the operation by senior RSF leadership demonstrate that the crimes committed in and around El-Fasher were not random excesses of war,” said Mohamed Chande Othman, chair of the Fact-Finding Mission on Sudan.
“They formed part of a planned and organized operation that bears the defining characteristics of genocide.”
The continuing armed conflict began on April 15, 2023, between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, with other warring parties involved, according to the United Nations.
The report, “Hallmarks of Genocide in El-Fasher,” found that genocidal intent is the only reasonable inference that can be drawn from the RSF’s systematic acts.
ETHNICALLY TARGETED KILLINGS
These include a pattern of ethnically targeted killings, sexual violence, destruction, and public statements explicitly calling for the elimination of non-Arab communities, particularly the Zaghawa and Fur.
According to the report, discriminatory and ethnic slurs were used during widespread, systematic and coordinated acts of rape, including numerous cases of gang-rape, and other forms of sexual violence.
“The selective targeting of Zaghawa and Fur women and girls, while women perceived as Arab were often spared, underscores the discriminatory and destructive purpose of the violence,” says the report.
It quotes one survivor recalling an RSF member as saying, “These are slaves. Kill them, destroy them, rape them.”
Based on interviews with over 140 victims and witnesses conducted in Sudan’s Northern state and in eastern Chad in late 2025, the Human Rights Office documented more than 6,000 killings in the first three days of the RSF offensive on El Fasher.
That was followed by an 18-month siege of the city.
The report assesses that at least 4,400 people were killed within El Fasher in those few days, and over 1,600 others along exit routes as they fled.
The actual scale of the death toll during the week-long offensive is undoubtedly significantly higher.
“The wanton violations that were perpetrated by the RSF and allied Arab militia in the final offensive on El Fasher underscore that persistent impunity fuels continued cycles of violence,” said the UN Human Rights chief Volker Türk on Feb. 13 after a visit to the area.
He called for a credible and impartial investigation to establish criminal responsibility, including that of commanders and other superiors.
Fact-Finding Mission expert Mona Rishmawi said, “The RSF acted with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, the Zaghawa and Fur communities in El-Fasher. These are the hallmarks of genocide.”
By Peter Kenny
