Key facts
- UN investigators have released new evidence corroborating accusations of genocide by the RSF in Sudan's el-Fasher.
- The evidence includes survivor testimony detailing killings, sexual violence, and deliberate infliction of conditions calculated to destroy non-Arab groups.
- The UN Fact-Finding Mission for Sudan (FFMS) has expanded its evidence base with additional survivor interviews.
- The mission is investigating whether mass rape and denial of reproductive healthcare could constitute a fourth genocidal act.
- The FFMS highlighted the potential complicity of states providing support to the RSF, citing obligations under the Genocide Convention.
- New accounts detail RSF fighters committing rape, abduction, and murder, with ethnicity identified as a primary criterion for targeting.
The United Nations Fact-Finding Mission for Sudan (FFMS) has released additional evidence, including new survivor testimony, that corroborates its findings of genocide by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan's el-Fasher. The mission stated that its evidence base has grown to 333 survivor interviews, reaffirming that the RSF's October takeover of the North Darfur capital bore the hallmarks of genocide.
The FFMS, an independent body established by the UN Human Rights Council, found that three underlying acts of genocide were overwhelmingly present: killing members of the group, causing serious bodily or mental harm, and deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to destroy the group. Genocidal intent is inferred from the scale of killings, the use of ethnically charged language by RSF commanders and fighters, and a pattern of sparing Arab civilians while targeting non-Arabs. The mission is now examining whether mass rape, forced pregnancy, and denial of reproductive healthcare could constitute a fourth genocidal act under the Genocide Convention.
The report also highlighted the potential complicity of states that continue to arm or support the RSF, stating that such support, despite knowledge of a serious risk of genocide, could breach their duty to prevent it. While the UAE denies charges, evidence links it to supplying arms to the RSF. Rights groups have filed communications with the International Criminal Court requesting investigations into foreign actors, particularly senior UAE officials, for aiding and abetting RSF atrocities.
New testimony details horrific acts by RSF fighters, including storming shelters and killing civilians, rape, and murder. Survivors recounted instances of mass rape, with some victims as young as 13, and an elderly woman dying from her injuries. The mission documented specific targeting based on ethnicity, with fighters sparing those claiming Arab tribal affiliation while assaulting others. Reports also include rape by insertion of sharp objects leading to death and the killing of women who resisted rape or tried to protect relatives. Abduction of women and girls is also noted as a pattern that could amount to enforced disappearance. Quotes attributed to RSF fighters, such as "Any Zaghawa we will capture will not survive the night," reinforce the finding that ethnicity is a primary criterion for the violence.
Furthermore, the mission reported on the dire conditions of thousands of detainees held by the RSF in el-Fasher and later transferred to Nyala's Daqris prison. These individuals were held without legal process, access to lawyers, or family visits. Former government employees, particularly teachers and doctors, were separated from other captives and have not been seen again. Detainees at a former children's hospital used as a detention and execution site contracted cholera from contaminated water, leading to deaths in custody.