El Fasher massacre
| El Fasher massacre | |
|---|---|
| Part of the war crimes during the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Masalit genocide and the aftermath of the siege of El Fasher | |
Left to right:
| |
Location within Sudan | |
| Location | 13°37′50″N 25°21′0″E / 13.63056°N 25.35000°E El Fasher, North Darfur, Sudan |
| Date | 26 October 2025 – present (3 weeks and 6 days) |
| Target | Non-Arab ethnicities including the Zaghawa, Fur, Berti and Masalit; also prisoners of war of SAF |
Attack type | Mass killing, ethnic cleansing, genocidal massacre, genocidal rape |
| Deaths |
|
| Perpetrator | |
| Motive | Arab supremacy, Arabization, anti-Black racism |
| Convicted | Al-Fateh Abdullah Idris (by RSF, reportedly)[1] |
The El Fasher massacre (Arabic: مجزرة الفاشر, romanized: Majzarat al-Fāshir) is an ongoing massacre in the city of El Fasher, in western Sudan, during which an estimated 2,500 or more civilians have been executed or murdered since 26 October 2025. The massacre has been carried out by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group, after they captured the city, which was the last stronghold in Darfur of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Sudanese government.
As of 14 November 2025[update],[2] a communications blackout in the city is limiting information and the massacre is continuing.[3][4] Yale School of Public Health's Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL) have estimated that the figures of those killed are "undercounted"[5] and Sky News claimed that analysts estimate "tens of thousands" of individuals killed.[6] El Fasher's Resistance Committee stated that many of those living in El Fasher's core were killed.[7]
The speed and intensity of the killings in the immediate aftermath of the fall of El Fasher has been compared to the first 24 hours of the Rwandan genocide. According to Sudanese journalist and author Nesrine Malik, "The RSF of today is the Janjaweed of yesteryear, except this time armed to the teeth, supported by powerful external allies, and with a renewed appetite to purge once more non-Arab populations it has been hostile to for decades".[8] On 16 November 2025, Sudan researcher Eric Reeves described the RSF as a "genocidal militia force" and the massacre as a "genocidal slaughter".[9]
Background
[edit]El Fasher is a city that serves as the capital of the North Darfur state of Sudan. Due to refugees from various conflicts, notably the War in Darfur, the population of the city has varied. In 2001 the city had a population of approximately 178,500 people.[10] By 2009 it was estimated at 500,000.[11]
Since 2023, a civil war has been raging across Sudan.[12][13] It began as a result of a power struggle between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by Muhammad Dagalo, better known by the mononym Hemedti.[14] The RSF was created by Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir in 2013, formed from existing Janjaweed militias in Darfur, a region of western Sudan.[15][16] The Janjaweed were a major perpetrator of the Darfur genocide against the Fur, Masalit, and Zaghawa ethnic groups.[17][18]
El Fasher came under siege, and the first major battle there took place in April 2023. Over the next two years, there were several clashes between armed forces.[19] In May 2024 it was estimated the city had a population of 1.5 million, of whom at least 800,000 were internally displaced people sheltering there. Throughout the siege a large number of people fled to various refugee camps, such as the Tawila refugee camp and the Zamzam refugee camp, the latter of which was destroyed by the RSF, killing up to 2,000 people and forcing an exodus of 400,000 refugees to Tawila.[20][21] In October 2025, El Fasher remained the last stronghold of the Sudanese Armed Forces in Darfur. According to estimates, during September and October 2025 more than 260,000 civilians were trapped in the city because of the siege.[22][7][23] During this period, reports documented a deteriorating humanitarian crisis,[24] with UN convoys even being struck by drone attacks.[25]
Following intensified RSF attacks on the city, the SAF retreated late on 27 October 2025,[26] resulting in the fall of the city. On 28 October, al-Burhan confirmed that the SAF had withdrawn from the city.[27][28][29] In the ensuing raid on the city, which the RSF described as "combing operation on a large-scale," the group claimed that it has an "utmost commitment" to protect civilians, of whom approximately 260,000 remained in the city at the time its capture.[22][30][31][32]
Motives
[edit]RSF fighters are suspected to have justified the massacre by branding those who remained in the city after the SAF left as collaborators or spies.[32]
Funding and military support
[edit]According to Sudan researcher Eric Reeves, United Arab Emirates (UAE) funds are used to "pay RSF officers' salaries, to bribe those who might interdict weapons shipments, even to provide an extremely elaborate social media and public relations campaign out of Dubai". Reeves also sees the UAE as a major supplier of weapons to the RSF. He stated that UAE cargo planes are used to provide weapons to the RSF via intermediary countries, citing advanced, long-range Chinese howitzers as a key weapon in the siege of El Fasher supplied to the RSF by the UAE.[9]
Massacre
[edit]Once the RSF took hold of the city on 27 October, multiple sources, including local organizations, international NGOs, the United Nations, and independent monitoring groups, reported a wave of executions targeting unarmed civilians.[33] Confusion ensued as the fall of defenses was followed by a communications blackout.[34] According to reports, more than 2,000 people had been executed, many of them women, children, and the elderly.[35] This included house to house raids during which civilians were killed, committed by RSF fighters on foot, camels, or vehicles.[36][37][38][39]
Civilians were killed in and around shelters for displaced families, hospitals, and homes. Witnesses and medical staff reported that drones, artillery, guns and whips were used in attacks that deliberately targeted civilians.[37][39] Drones were seen chasing and targeting civilians.[39] Videos show militants shooting civilians at point-blank range and mutilating them, including shattering their skulls.[40] They have also reportedly engaged in sexual violence against women and girls.[27][38][41][42] Other sources reported people being burned alive, extrajudicial executions, and planned attacks on certain ethnic groups.[41][43] Witnesses recounted RSF fighters in trucks driving over and crushing civilians. Some said they saw 40 to 60 or more civilians killed in a singular location at a time.[39]

Witnesses and aid workers told Reuters that men were separated from women,[44] tortured, and executed on the grounds that they declined forced conscription into the RSF. They have additionally reported the executions of POWs.[30][31] Images and videos posted to social media by RSF soldiers shows them posing with the dead bodies of civilians, often doing a "V for Victory" sign.[45] On 31 October, one of four witnesses recounted camel-riding fighters reportedly having brought hundreds of hostages from El Fasher to a nearby reservoir before executing them.[a][44]
It has been estimated that many of the 260,000 people are still captured within the city.[32] Refugees which managed to escape reported violent RSF searches, disappearances of men, and kidnappings along their journey.[39] Many of those which escaped and other family members of those captured in the city reportedly received phone calls from RSF soldiers through their relatives' phone demanding ransom money in exchange for their release, ranging from $20 to $20,000 USD. It is believed that many have already "desperately" wired money to the RSF.[32][39][46]
Saudi maternity hospital massacre
[edit]At least 460 to 500 doctors, patients and companions of the patients were reportedly killed at Saudi Maternity Hospital,[47][48][49] the last functioning hospital in the city.[50][51] The World Health Organization has confirmed the killings, accusing the RSF of taking four doctors, a pharmacist and a nurse hostage and demanding ransoms of more than $150,000 USD for their release.[52] Videos from inside the hospital show soldiers killing scores of civilians. The Sudan Doctors Union said that approximately 1,200 other civilians were killed in other medical facilities.[40]
Following the hospital's looting and destruction, women from El Fasher reported that "pregnant women [gave] birth in the streets."[53]
Mass graves
[edit]Satellite images and open source evidence support reports of mass graves and widespread destruction, showing human sized "objects" and what are believed to be body bags and pools of blood.[27][35][54] On 4 November, more reports emerged of mass graves being dug. An investigator from the Yale HRL said more people could have died in the 10 days since the massacre began than the 68,000 people confirmed to have been killed during the entire length of the Gaza War, adding "that's not hyperbole."[55]
Starvation
[edit]The RSF restricted food inflow into the city, causing starvation.[53] On 3 November, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) reinforced confirmation that a famine was occurring in southwestern areas of Sudan. El Fasher and the southern town of Kadugli, also under siege by the RSF, were classified as Phase 5 "with reasonable evidence."[56][57]
Refugee crisis
[edit]Médecins Sans Frontières reported that of arrivals to the Tawila refugee camp during the week prior to the fall of city, 5% of children were acutely malnourished, and 26% were severely malnourished.[30] The UN estimated that more than 26,000 people had fled the city in a couple days after the beginning of the massacre, mostly towards the neighboring town of Tawila, where refugee camps were established.[42][30] Many of the children which arrived were separated or unaccompanied.[58] Several centers for displaced people, including the Dar al-Arqam displacement center at Omdurman Islamic University, were attacked. Reports further claim that in a single incident, more than 60 people were killed, including 22 women and 17 children.[35]
By 4 November, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) suspected that "many others" were still "trapped in the city without food, water and medical care." It stated that it was providing assistance to refugees which had arrived in Tawila. Furthermore, it had household-item aid kits prepared for distribution in Nyala, awaiting safe access into El Fasher, which was still blockaded at the time.[59] The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) reported the same day that over 445,000 had been displaced across Sudan in 2025 alone. It claimed that the situation seemed uncertain for refugees with "aid funding sharply declining and essential services stretched to breaking point."[60]
By 11 November, UN Women's Regional Director for East and Southern Africa, Anna Mutavati, said that the refugee crisis worsened as fighting around the city continued. Some also fled to the neighboring towns of Korma and Malit, where Mutavati categorized the aid presence as "scarce."[53] Tens of thousands of arrivals have led to overcrowding in refugee camps.[61] The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said that ground assaults and heavy shelling in the weeks since the massacre began displaced approximately 90,000. Tens of thousand remained trapped within the city, with the IOM reporting that hospitals, markets, and water systems collapsed. The IOM claimed that the humanitarian situation was "on the brink of collapse," with aid resources depleted despite local organizations starting emergency projects to provide "shelter kits, protection assistance, and health services," and improve "access to water, sanitation, and hygiene."[62]
Further killings
[edit]Many could not escape as the city was surrounded by RSF's 56-kilometer blockade, which was used during the siege.[7][42] Aid groups said there were no safe routes for civilians. Videos show scores of massacred civilians around the sand berm and inside its ditches.[7][63] People who attempted to flee were reportedly kidnapped with ransoms demanded for release.[52] For weeks, dozens of civilians coming from El Fasher and arriving in Tawila were seriously wounded.[62]
Investigations
[edit]The International Criminal Court (ICC) said in early November 2025 that it was working to "preserve and collect relevant evidence for its use in future prosecutions" as part of its Darfur investigation and that reported atrocities, "if substantiated, may constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity under the Rome Statute".[64] Earlier, on 6 October 2025, the ICC convicted Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman (Ali Kushayb) of 27 charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in 2003 during the Darfur genocide.[65][66]
Ceasefire discussions
[edit]Background
[edit]Diplomatic efforts to broker a truce were active in early 2025 but largely unsuccessful. Various proposed peace talks held in London, Washington, and Geneva failed to produce a lasting agreement.[67]
In April 2025, a British-led conference in London attempted to establish a contact group to restart negotiations, but the effort faltered when key Arab states (especially Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE) refused to endorse a joint communiqué.[68] While the UK, EU, and African Union pushed for a ceasefire and political roadmap, the regional powers prioritized different outcomes.[68][69]
By September 2025, the United States together with Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates presented a formal peace plan. The roadmap proposed a three-month humanitarian truce, to be followed by a permanent ceasefire and a nine-month political transition to civilian-led governance.[70][71][72] However, implementation remained uncertain: the SAF voiced strong reservations, particularly demanding that the RSF withdraw from civilian areas before any truce could take effect.[70][72][73]
Renewed efforts
[edit]The US Trump administration said it was working towards the end of fighting in Sudan.[31][74] Meanwhile, RSF leaders announced that they would accept the Quad’s proposal for a “humanitarian ceasefire” to mitigate the civilian toll.[71][72][75] Under the RSF’s public statement, the group committed to start implementing the agreement and engage in negotiations on how to cease hostilities and lay down foundational political principles.[72][75][76] Some in the SAF posited that the truce would allow the RSF to consolidate gains; after the fall of El Fasher.[73][76][77]
Experts stated that US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, was working to bring together the neighboring countries of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, which each hold differing opinions on the conflict.[78][79] The countries had agreed to put together a humanitarian ceasefire proposal soon after, agreeing to later political negotiation towards a civilian-led government.[80][81][82] On 7 October, the RSF agreed to the proposal and said they were open to ceasing hostilities.[80][74] At the same time, analysts warned that a pause in fighting would be meaningless if mass killings and atrocities continued. Others noted that unless the ceasefire was accompanied by concrete political steps (especially on power-sharing and civilian governance), such deals could merely offer a temporary reprieve.[80][83] The RSF violated the ceasefire within days.[84]
Reactions and response
[edit]Experts, advocacy groups, and humanitarian organizations
[edit]Survivors, advocacy group representatives from NGO Protection Approaches and the IDP Humanitarian Network, and the United Nations (UN) said the attacks in El Fasher were done with the clear aim of ethnic cleansing and were part of a wider pattern of RSF violence across Darfur.[85][21][86] Executive Director at the HRL, Nathaniel Raymond, compared the massacre to the first 24 hours of the Rwandan genocide.[21][43] Other experts have argued the massacres could be considered war crimes.[44] De Waal said the massacre was "very similar to what they [the RSF] did in Geneina [in early 2023] and elsewhere" during the early 2000s.[13][44] He and other experts had long warned that the RSF would perpetrate ethnic violence against indigenous African groups, and has done so for 20 years prior—especially following the takeover of El Fasher.[13][38][42][44]
Experts have criticized the international community, particularly the United States, of sanctioning belligerents but failing to apply effective pressure on countries financing and arming them.[26][38] Amnesty International urged the African Union (AU), UN, regional actors, and other international actors to "act swiftly to prevent further civilian suffering." In light of the "horrifying" massacres, it called for all parties responsible for the atrocities to be held "individually accountable."[87] In a press release regarding the massacre, it raised concerns about the United Kingdom's complicity in arms sales to the UAE, which have been reported in the hands of the RSF.[23][88] Despite the UN Security Council having received material indicated that the UAE supplied UK-produced arms to the RSF, the UK went on to send similar arms to the UAE months later.[88] Other experts also criticized the National Basketball Association (NBA) and Disney for their business partnerships with the UAE.[38]
Domestic
[edit]Rapid Support Forces
[edit]The RSF have denied massacres and said videos are propaganda and fake. Hemedti has admitted "abuses" committed by the RSF.[36] He apologised for potential civilian deaths and said that the RSF will protect civilians, despite saying that Sudan would be united "through peace or war."[89] RSF leadership claimed to have undertaken an independent investigations into the attack, supposedly resulting in the arrest of several fighters.[39][44][90] It also said that it helped civilians leave the city,[44] published videos handing out aid,[32] and called on aid organizations to help those which remained. Hemedti called on fighters to do the same in addition to releasing any detainees.[44]
A high-level RSF commander claimed that the SAF fueled "media exaggeration" regarding the raid "to cover up for their defeat and loss of al-Fashir [El Fasher]." He said that "there were no killings as has been claimed," however Reuters has verified at least three videos of RSF-uniform soldiers executing unarmed captives as of 31 October.[44] RSF Brigadier General al-Fateh Abdullah Idris, commonly known as Abu Lulu, however, boasted in unconfirmed videos on 27 October of having killed over 2,000 people. He was seen executing a civilian in another video.[31][91] Thanks to viral videos featuring Abu Lulu,[92] RSF media subsequently posted images of Abu Lulu under arrest. The arrest has been criticized by Sudanese activists as a publicity stunt.[92][93] The RSF attempted to further distance themselves from him, with senior RSF sources claiming that "he does not belong to the RSF" but rather a "group fighting alongside" the RSF. They claimed that he would be "held accountable for his actions."[92]
RSF militia commander Shiraz Khalid received the a UAE-owned Sky News Arabia anchor, Tsabih Mubarak, on 9 November.[94][95] Sky News Arabia claimed that the security and humanitarian situation in El Fasher had stabilized.[96] Despite Sky News Arabia being state media, the friendly interaction and hugging between the two nevertheless outraged the Sudanese community. This comes particularly as Khalid has incited RSF fighters to commit war crimes.[94][95][97] Weeks prior, videos of Khalid published where she encouraged fighters to rape and impregnate women to "cleanse their lineage."[94] Sky News Arabia's de facto owner Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan,[b] who is the Vice President of the UAE and a member of the ruling Abu Dhabi family, has met RSF's Hemedti and funded RSF operations in Sudan.[95]
Sudanese Armed Forces
[edit]In an address on 27 October, the day El Fasher was captured, al-Burhan first accused the RSF of killing civilians.[26] The SAF have accused the RSF of targeting mosques and aid workers.[89]
In response to Sky News Arabia's anchor Mubarak likely being granted safe passage into El Fasher by the RSF, the Sudanese Ministry of Culture, Information, and Tourism banned the channel from operating with Sudan. The Ministry stated that it made the decision on the basis that Sky News Arabia had not gotten official accreditation.[96]
International
[edit]United Nations
[edit]United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres called the fall of El Fasher a "terrible escalation" in violence and urged foreign countries to stop giving weapons or support to the fighting groups.[37] The UN asked for a safe route so civilians can escape the city. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OCHA) reported cases of people being killed without trial and ethnic motivations behind the killings.[100]
The UNHCR warned that growing violence in El Fasher forced thousands of people to flee, while many others are trapped in heavy fighting.[101] Thomas Fletcher, the UN's Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, compared the violence to that of the Darfur genocide,[102] and said, "El Fasher, already the scene of catastrophic levels of human suffering, has descended into an even darker hell."[103] Sudan representative for UNICEF, Sheldon Yett, compared it to the Rwandan genocide.[104]
| Tom Fletcher (@UNReliefChief) tweeted: |
Unspeakable suffering in Tawila.Over half of the fleeing survivors are children. One injured woman I met walked into the camp after surviving an attack, carrying her friend's starving child.
They're asking the world if help is coming.
16 November 2025[105]
From approximately 10 to 16 November, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs' (OCHA) Fletcher travelled to Darfur for a week long visit to see the state of the humanitarian crisis, and document it, and meet with RSF officials.[106][107] Prior to arriving in a remote town in Darfur nearby El Fasher, Fletcher's UN vehicle was struck by a drone prior to meeting RSF leadership. Senior RSF officials pledged to let the UN enter El Fasher to deliver aid to its civilians and investigate atrocities. Fletcher commented that although details by the end of the meeting were not solidified, the UN's entry would "likely [be] a matter of days, not months." He underscored that the UN and relevant parties must "be careful" that the RSF did not have a say in the delivery and destination of aid.[25] During his visit, he described the suffering of displaced individuals as "unspeakable."[108]
United States
[edit]The U.S. senior advisor for Arab and African affairs, Massad Boulos, expressed a deep disturbance regarding the attacks, calling it "abhorrent and unacceptable," urging the RSF to "immediately halt attacks, protect civilians, and ensure safe passage for those fleeing violence" in posts on Twitter.[109][110] Lawmakers called for the RSF to be designated a terrorist organisation.[111] Senator Jeanne Shaheen said she would probably support a terrorism designation, and criticised the UAE for its support of the RSF.[112]
Following a G7 ministerial meeting,[84] on 12 November, Marco Rubio remarked to the press that the US government was aware of who was arming the RSF. He did not mention the UAE,[79] but called for international action to cut weapons supply to the RSF. He furthermore recognized that murder, rape, and sexual violence against civilians had occurred in El Fasher.[84] When asked if he would support a bipartisan Senate effort to designate the RSF as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, Rubio commented that "the RSF has concluded that they’re winning and they want to keep going." He added that the refugee outflow from El Fasher was lower than "anticipated," indicated that they were either "dead or because they’re so sick and so famished that they can’t move." The possibility that El Fasher's residents were either dead or on the brink of death, Rubio said, was "weighing" on the US as they formulated a response to the crisis.[113]
United Arab Emirates
[edit]The UAE condemned the massacre, announced a AED 367.25 million in aid, and called for warring parties to exercise restraint and cease targeting civilians.[114] UAE Senior Diplomatic Envoy Anwar Gargash stated that it was a collective mistake by the international community after the 2021 Sudanese coup d'état to not have placed sanctions on the RSF and SAF.[115]
Other international reactions
[edit]
The African Union expressed deep concern about mass killings and human rights abuses following the RSF's takeover.[116]
The European Union expressed deep concern regarding the violence and asked for help to reach people in need and for those responsible to be held accountable.[117]
Germany strongly condemned the killings, rapes, and torture, urging those responsible to stop all violence against civilians.[101]
Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot condemned the attack, called the situation terrible, and demanded that civilians be protected and aid workers be allowed to help.[101]
Pope Leo XIV appealed for an immediate ceasefire in Sudan.[118]
Humanitarian and political implications
[edit]The events in El Fasher have increased pressure for aid and diplomacy in Sudan.[33][41] International groups had warned of a major disaster, mass killings, rape, hunger, and displacement affecting more than 14 million people in Darfur by late 2025.[33] The massacre has become a symbol of the wider violence after peace efforts collapsed and may render a negotiated deal unlikely in the near future.[33][43]
The capture of El Fasher gave RSF control over all five capitals in Darfur in addition to much of the Western Darfur territory.[26][119] Some warned of a possible partition of Sudan through the establishment of a de facto state.[43][119] However, Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED) commented that for the foundation of an alternative government, the RSF would likely need to capture much of the Kordofan region, which the SAF and its allies are working to secure.[63]
See also
[edit]- List of massacres in Sudan
- Masalit massacres (2023–present)
- Sudanese civil war (2023–present)
- 2025 Saudi Hospital attack
Notes
[edit]- ^ The surviving witness, Alkheir Ismail, told a local journalist in Tawila that he had survived after an RSF fighter recognized him "from his school days".
- ^ Sky News Arabia is a joint venture between the UAE-based International Media Investments (IMI) corporation and the UK-based Sky News.[98] IMI is a subsidiary owned entirely by Abu Dhabi Media Investment Corporation (ADMIC), which is a private investment of Al Nahyan.[99]
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