Carlos Mureithi in NairobiFriday July 3, 2026
Rapid Support Forces in El-Fasher in October, when it captured El Fasher, the last stronghold of the Sudan armed forces in Darfur. Photograph: Rapid Support Forces (RSF)/AFP/Getty Images
Amnesty International has accused Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces of carrying out crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing in its offensive to seize El Fasher.
In a report published on Wednesday, the rights group said the paramilitary force was responsible for murder, torture, rape, enslavement and sexual slavery as part of a broad and systematic assault on civilians. Those abuses, Amnesty said, amounted to crimes against humanity.
In the report, Amnesty also accused the RSF of deliberately targeting children during attacks in the city in North Darfur state.
The RSF took El Fasher in October after an 18-month siege, ending the Sudan armed forces’ last foothold in Darfur. The capture was followed by widespread massacres and left tens of thousands dead.
In February, an independent UN fact-finding mission said the RSF’s takeover of El Fasher bore “hallmarks of genocide” against non-Arab communities.
Amnesty said its findings were based on interviews with 247 people, among them 208 survivors from the city and surrounding areas. The organisation also reviewed documentary and video evidence and examined satellite imagery from North Darfur.
The group concluded that between mid-2024 and late 2025, the RSF committed war crimes in and around El Fasher. It said the force repeatedly singled out non-Arab civilians and used abusive, dehumanising language during attacks. Amnesty said those actions amounted to the crime against humanity of persecution on ethnic grounds.
It also said the RSF’s destruction of towns and villages between December 2024 and March 2025, including Abu Zerega, which is populated by non-Arab ethnic groups, was consistent with ethnic cleansing.
According to the report, the paramilitary campaign left countless children orphaned and displaced hundreds of thousands more, putting them at risk of death and injury either in the attacks or while escaping them.
Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s secretary general, said: “The war in Sudan is a war on civilians. The world was warned of the horrors that civilians in El Fasher confronted as the RSF laid siege to the city. It is a stain on the conscience of humanity.”
The report identified three RSF commanders it said were responsible for grave violations of international law: Maj Gen Gedo Hamdan Ahmed Mohamed, also known as “Abu Shok”, Lt Col Abbas Khater Bakhit and commander Al-Fateh Abdullah Idris, also known as “Abu Lulu”.
Sudan’s civil war began in April 2023 after a power struggle between the Sudan armed forces, led by Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the RSF, headed by Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, exploded into fighting in Khartoum.
The conflict has killed hundreds of thousands of people and forced many more from their homes.
Amnesty urged an immediate ceasefire and the rapid deployment of an international force to shield civilians.
Callamard said: “The international community must move beyond statements of concern and take concrete steps to protect civilians, breaking the cycle of impunity.”
