Executions and mass rapes: During the Rapid Support Forces’ incursion into Al-Fashir
Horrific Accounts of Executions and Mass Rape During Rapid Support Forces Incursion in El Fasher
31 October 2025 | Human Rights
The UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) confirmed that it has received “horrific accounts of extrajudicial executions, mass killings, rape, attacks on aid workers, looting, kidnapping, and forced displacement” in the context of the Rapid Support Forces’ (RSF) incursion into El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur.
El Fasher Massacres
These reports are based on the testimonies of people who fled El Fasher to Tawila after walking for three to four days, in addition to shocking video clips and photos showing “gross violations of human rights law.”
Speaking to journalists in Geneva via video link from Nairobi, OHCHR Spokesperson Seif Magango said that communications are cut off and the situation on the ground is chaotic, “making it difficult to get first-hand information from inside the city.”
He added: “We estimate that the number of dead – of civilians and those who became hors de combat during the RSF attack on the city and its exit routes as well as in the days following the takeover – may reach the hundreds.”
Magango stated that OHCHR’s humanitarian partners reported that at least 25 women were subjected to mass rape when RSF forces entered an IDP shelter near El Fasher University. He added: “Eyewitnesses confirm that RSF members selected women and girls and raped them at gunpoint, forcing the remaining IDPs – around a hundred families – to leave the site amid gunfire and the intimidation of elderly residents.”
He also noted “alarming reports of patients and wounded individuals being killed inside the Saudi Maternity Hospital” and in various buildings located in the Daraja Al-Oula and Airport neighbourhoods, which were temporarily being used as medical centres.
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Magango said that the OHCHR documented killings and assaults on aid workers and local volunteers supporting vulnerable communities, and confirmed that the RSF is holding three doctors in El Fasher captive.
The OHCHR spokesperson said there were also reports of serious violations in the context of the RSF takeover of Bara in North Kordofan, including the alleged extrajudicial execution of five Red Crescent volunteers.
He called for “independent, prompt, transparent, and comprehensive” investigations into all these violations of international law, and for holding those responsible accountable. He added that the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, reiterated his call to countries with influence over the parties to the conflict to act urgently to end the violence, “stop the flow of arms fueling the violations we continue to witness, and ensure the effective protection of civilians.”
Reported atrocities in Sudan’s El Fasher show ‘total disregard’ for human life
Horrifying videos and reported atrocities allegedly carried out by RSF militia in and around the Sudanese city of El Fasher demonstrate a “total disregard” for both protection of civilians and the Security Council’s resolution demanding an end to the civil war.
That’s according to the UN’s head of humanitarian operations in the country, Denise Brown, who told UN News after recently visiting the Darfur region before the fall of the city this week, that it’s proving hard to verify information from the stricken city due to a communications blackout.
She told Ezzat El-Ferri she feels a “huge sense” of tragedy and responsibility to continue providing UN relief services, adding that the atrocities must be documented so that “justice can be served.”
Source: United Nations website
