Sudan’s RSF committed ‘myriad crimes against humanity’: UN probe
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A UN investigation accuses Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces of committing crimes against humanity in Darfur, including murder, torture, rape, and starvation tactics.
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A young internally displaced Sudanese boy at the ZamZam camp in El-Fasher, north Darfur, in November 2024 (AP)
The United Nations fact-finding mission for Sudan has concluded that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have committed numerous crimes against humanity during the country’s ongoing war, particularly in their siege of El-Fasher in western Darfur.
In a report released Friday, investigators also found evidence of war crimes by both the RSF and Sudan’s regular army, in a conflict that has killed tens of thousands since it erupted in April 2023.
“Our findings leave no room for doubt: civilians are paying the highest price in this war,” mission chief Mohamed Chande Othman said.
Crimes documented in El-Fasher siege
The RSF, which lost control of central Sudan earlier this year, has turned its focus to consolidating power in Darfur. Its forces have surrounded El-Fasher, the last major city in the region held by the army, home to around 300,000 people.
According to the UN mission, during the siege, the RSF committed murder, torture, enslavement, rape, sexual slavery, and other forms of sexual violence, alongside forced displacement and persecution on ethnic, gender, and political grounds.
The report added, “The RSF and its allies used starvation as a method of warfare and deprived civilians of food, medicine, and relief supplies,, which may amount to the crime against humanity of extermination.”
Methods, evidence
Although investigators were denied entry to Sudan, they collected evidence through over 250 interviews with survivors and witnesses in neighboring countries, as well as through reviewing documents, videos, and other materials.
Survivors described RSF detention centers as “slaughterhouses", where detainees were beaten to death or summarily executed. The mission also reported widespread sexual violence, including gang rape, forced marriage, and sexual slavery.
“Women and girls from non-Arab communities, some as young as 12, were particularly targeted,” the investigators said.
Both sides accused
While the RSF was singled out for atrocities, the report stressed that both the RSF and Sudan’s army have engaged in arbitrary arrests, torture, executions, and targeting civilians based on ethnicity, political affiliation, or alleged collaboration.
Othman emphasized, “These are not accidental tragedies but deliberate strategies amounting to war crimes.”
The findings will be presented to the UN Human Rights Council next week. The mission has called for international accountability to ensure perpetrators face justice.
