The United Nations has accused Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of committing crimes against humanity during their prolonged siege of el-Fasher, the last major army stronghold in Darfur.
Alleged Atrocities
According to the UN Fact-Finding Mission, the RSF has carried out murder, rape, torture, sexual slavery, forced displacement, and persecution targeting communities on ethnic, gender, and political grounds. The report further highlights the use of starvation as a weapon of war, describing it as a possible crime of extermination.
UN investigators said both the RSF and Sudan’s army have deliberately targeted civilians. Strategies cited include summary executions, arbitrary detention, denial of food and medicine, and torture in detention facilities.
“These are not accidental tragedies but deliberate strategies amounting to war crimes,” said Mohamed Chande Othman, chair of the mission.
Humanitarian Crisis in Darfur
El-Fasher, home to around 300,000 people, has been under siege for over a year. In April, RSF fighters stormed the Zamzam refugee camp, where famine had already been declared, forcing tens of thousands of displaced people to flee again.
Recent satellite analysis by Yale University revealed the construction of 31 kilometers of earthen barriers around the city, apparently designed to trap civilians inside.
International Reaction
The United States has accused the RSF of genocide against Darfur’s non-Arab population, while also sanctioning army chief Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan for alleged use of food deprivation as a weapon.
The UN report, titled “A War of Atrocities,” called for an arms embargo on Sudan and the creation of an independent judicial mechanism to prosecute those responsible.
Human Toll
Since fighting broke out in April 2023, Sudan’s civil war has killed tens of thousands and forced more than 13 million people from their homes, leaving Darfur at the center of one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.