Mass killings of non-Arab civilians by RSF in Sudan's El-Fasher point to 'genocide', UN report says
Africa
Mass killings of non-Arab civilians in El-Fasher after its capture by Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) show signs consistent with genocide, according to a new report by the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for Sudan.
Issued on: 19/02/2026 - 17:07
Modified: 20/02/2026 - 11:10
By:
FRANCE 24
Sudanese soldiers from the Rapid Support Forces unit.
FILE - Sudanese soldiers from the Rapid Support Forces unit, led by Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, the deputy head of the military council, secure the area where Dagalo attends a military-backed tribe's rally, in the East Nile province, Sudan on June 22, 2019. © Hussein Malla, AP
A "campaign of destruction" in October by Sudanese paramilitary forces against non-Arab communities in and near a city in the country's western region of Darfur shows “hallmarks of genocide”, UN-backed human rights experts reported Thursday, a dramatic finding in the country's devastating war.
The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces – which are at war with the Sudanese military – carried out mass killings and other atrocities in the city of El-Fasher after an 18-month siege during which they imposed conditions “calculated to bring about the physical destruction" of non-Arab communities, in particular the Zaghawa and the Fur communities, the independent fact-finding mission on Sudan reported.
UN officials say several thousand civilians were killed in the RSF takeover of el-Fasher, the Sudanese army’s only remaining stronghold in the Darfur. Only 40% of the city’s 260,000 residents managed to flee the onslaught alive, thousands of whom were wounded, the officials said. The fate of the rest remains unknown.
https://www.france24.com/en/africa/20260219-mass-killings-of-non-arab-civilians-in-sudan-point-to-genocide-un-report-says