A United Nations fact-finding mission has concluded that Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) committed acts amounting to genocide during their siege and capture of al-Fashir in North Darfur last year.
In a report released on Wednesday, the U.N. probe said the RSF carried out mass killings, abductions of women and girls, gang rapes and the deliberate starvation of civilians as part of an intentional policy during Sudan’s ongoing civil war.
FILE PHOTO: Khadija Isa, 35, a Sudanese refugee from Al-Fashir, holds a smartphone displaying a video shown to her by a Reuters reporter in which she recognised RSF commander al-Fateh Abdullah Idris, known as Abu Lulu, at the Tine transit camp in eastern Chad, November 23, 2025. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh/File Photo
Report details widespread abuses
According to the investigation, the RSF committed the crimes while besieging al-Fashir before capturing the city last year.
The report found that survivors described being raped in rooms where the bodies of recently killed civilians, including members of their own families, were still lying on the ground.
Investigators also concluded that the RSF and allied forces committed the war crime of starvation by maintaining a prolonged siege, blocking humanitarian aid and shelling food production systems.
The RSF has denied accusations of abuses throughout the more than three-year conflict, saying the allegations have been fabricated by its opponents while making counter-accusations against them.
FILE PHOTO: Tents display the logo of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia at a displaced persons camp in El Obeid, North Kordofan State, Sudan, January 12, 2026. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig/File Photo
Genocide findings strengthened
The latest report builds on conclusions reached by the U.N. Fact-Finding Mission in February, when it found that mass killings targeting non-Arab communities during the capture of al-Fashir bore the hallmarks of genocide.
The new investigation says it uncovered additional evidence showing that the widespread and systematic pattern of killings, large-scale sexual violence and deliberate starvation formed part of an intended policy by the RSF.
Fears grow over al-Obeid
The U.N. also warned that similar atrocities could be unfolding around al-Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan state.
Last week, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights warned that a comparable “catastrophe” was developing in the area, where his office has documented summary executions, abductions, torture and sexual violence.
Cars with bullet holes on them in a square in Khartoum, Sudan, June 11, 2026. Authorities in Khartoum are collecting thousands of abandoned, damaged and suspected stolen vehicles from streets and public squares. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig
On Monday, members of the U.N. Human Rights Council condemned the violence and established an urgent inquiry into the alleged abuses.
Britain and several other countries have also warned of the risk of large-scale atrocities after the RSF concentrated forces around al-Obeid, which is home to around 500,000 people, including more than 83,000 internally displaced residents.
Call for international action
Mohamed Chande Othman, chair of the U.N. Fact-Finding Mission for Sudan, said the events in al-Fashir should serve as a warning.
“The patterns we documented in al-Fashir – including encirclement, attacks on civilian infrastructure, restrictions on humanitarian access, and widespread abuses against civilians – serve as a stark warning,” he said.
“The international community must heed these lessons and act to prevent further catastrophe,” he added.
