UN says hundreds of civilians and unarmed fighters may have been executed in Sudan, a war crime
This photo released by Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on October 30, 2025 shows RSF members allegedly arresting a fighter known as Abu Lulu (left) in El-Fasher, in the war-torn West Darfur region. — Rapid Support Forces (RSF)/AFP
Hundreds of civilians and unarmed fighters were executed or captured as a major city was captured by the paramilitaries.
Activists and analysts have long warned of ethnicity-based revenge killings by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) if they seize Al-Fashir, the Sudanese army’s last bastion in Darfur.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights shared further testimony on Friday, estimating that hundreds of civilians and unarmed combatants may have been executed. Such killings are considered war crimes.
RSF, whose victory in El Fashir marks a milestone in Sudan’s two-and-a-half-year-old civil war, has denied such abuses, saying the stories were fabricated by its enemies and launched counter-accusations against them.
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Hundreds of people fleeing violence in El-Fasher, the capital of western Sudan’s North Darfur state, have arrived in Sudan’s northern state after a “difficult and dangerous journey”, a local medical group said on Saturday.
The displaced families escaped the “massacres” carried out by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in El-Fasher and arrived in the Al-Dabba region, the Sudanese Doctors Network said in a message published on the American social media company X.
He warned that the new arrivals are living in “dire humanitarian conditions”, with inadequate shelter, severe shortages of food and clean water and a lack of basic health services, particularly affecting children, women and the elderly.
“These families are now facing serious life difficulties that exceed the capacity of host communities to cope,” the network said, warning that the number of displaced people is expected to increase sharply in the coming days as the situation in Darfur continues to deteriorate.
Displaced Sudanese people gather and sit in makeshift tents after fleeing the Darfur town of Al-Fashir, in Tawila, Sudan, October 29, 2025, in this still image from a Reuters video. PHOTO: REUTERS
He called on local authorities and humanitarian groups “inside and outside Sudan” to urgently provide medical aid, food, shelter and psychological support to avoid “a total collapse of the humanitarian situation.”
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said Friday that more than 62,000 people have been displaced from El-Fasher in the four days since RSF’s Rapid Security Forces took control of the city.
El-Fasher fell under RSF control at the start of the week after a siege lasting several months. Rights groups have accused the paramilitary group of carrying out massacres, arresting people and attacking hospitals.
Sudan has been ravaged by a civil war between the army and the RSF since April 2023, causing thousands of deaths and the displacement of millions of people.
“Apocalyptic situation”
The foreign ministers of the United Kingdom, Germany and Jordan jointly called on Saturday for an immediate ceasefire in Sudan, following reports of atrocities and human rights violations in the Darfur region.
Speaking at a security summit in the Bahraini capital Manama, the ministers condemned what they called “horrific” violence by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in the town of El-Fasher.
This statement comes as the UN warns that the RSF have gone on a rampage in El-Fasher, killing hundreds of civilians and carrying out targeted attacks along ethnic lines.
Member of the Sudanese paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), who have been fighting the national army since last April. PHOTO: REUTERS
Authorities say more than 450 people have been killed in a hospital and mass executions and sexual violence have been reported.
RSF denied killing people at the hospital. However, satellite images, videos shared on social media and testimonies from those who fled the city suggest widespread violence and devastation.
At the Manama Dialogue security summit, British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper described the situation as a “humanitarian crisis and devastating conflict” that the international community has failed to resolve.
“Just as the combination of leadership and international cooperation has brought progress in Gaza, Gaza is currently failing to address the humanitarian crisis and devastating conflict in Sudan as reports from Darfur in recent days reveal truly horrific atrocities,” Cooper said.
“Mass executions, famine and the devastating use of rape as a weapon of war, with women and children bearing the brunt of the greatest humanitarian crisis of the 21st century. For too long, this terrible conflict has been neglected, while the suffering has only increased.
“No amount of aid can resolve a crisis of this magnitude until the guns fall silent,” she added.
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul echoed Cooper’s warning, describing the situation in Sudan as “an absolutely apocalyptic situation.”
Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said Sudan had not received “the attention it deserves”, calling the crisis of “inhumane proportions”.
“We have to stop this,” he said.
Since April 15, 2023, the Sudanese army and the RSF have been locked in a war which numerous regional and international mediations have failed to end. The conflict has killed an estimated 20,000 people and displaced more than 15 million people as refugees and internally displaced people, according to U.N. and local reports.
