Amnesty says RSF committed ethnic cleansing in Sudan’s el-Fasher 

The Sudanese paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has committed crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing during their attack on el-Fasher city between 2024 and 2025, rights group Amnesty International alleges.

In a report published on Wednesday, Amnesty said it documented how civilians in and around the capital of North Darfur State in western Sudan were “killed, injured, beaten, tortured and detained between early 2024 and October 2025”.

“The RSF’s crimes included murder, forcible transfer, imprisonment, torture, rape, sexual slavery, other forms of sexual violence, enslavement, extermination and persecution,” it said in the report.

“Hundreds of thousands of children have been displaced, many of them repeatedly risking death and injury during attacks or while fleeing. Countless have been orphaned. People with disabilities and older people have faced acute risks, including targeted attacks, abandonment, and exclusion from essential assistance,” it added.

The report pointed out that the RSF continually attacked villages and towns around el-Fasher where the Zaghawa ethnic group predominantly lived.

Sudan has been mired since April 2023 in a brutal war between the army and the RSF, which has killed tens of thousands and displaced nearly 14 million others, according to the United Nations.

Both sides have been accused of atrocities, with a UN independent fact-finding mission in February concluding that the 2025 assault on el-Fasher bore the “hallmarks of genocide”.

Amnesty said it interviewed 246 people for its report, which included 208 survivors – 169 adults and 39 children – who had witnessed or had experienced “conflict-related abuses”.

After the RSF waged its final offensive on el-Fasher on October 26, 2025, the rights group found that hundreds of civilians were “executed and many others were tortured or detained”.

One 58-year-old woman survivor said she saw nearly 1,000 dead bodies, including children.

According to Amnesty, the RSF besieged el-Fasher from May 2024 to October 2025, restricting food and humanitarian aid while shelling the city almost daily. The siege contributed to famine, forcing residents to eat ambaz, a peanut oil byproduct normally used as animal feed.

Agnes Callamard, Amnesty International’s secretary-general, said it was 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,” said Callamard.

“A nationwide ceasefire is immediately needed. An independent and adequately resourced international force must be deployed to Sudan to protect civilians against crimes by all parties to the conflict. Without urgent action from the international community, attacks on civilians – and the immense suffering and trauma being inflicted on children – will continue unhindered.”