UN says at least 6,000 killed over 3 days during RSF attack on Sudan’s el-Fasher : NPR

Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, center, greets the crowd during a gathering of military-backed tribes in Sudan’s Nile state, Saturday, July 13, 2019.

Mahmoud Hjaj/AP

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Mahmoud Hjaj/AP

CAIRO — More than 6,000 people were killed in more than three days when a Sudanese paramilitary group unleashed “a wave of intense violence…shocking in its scale and brutality” in Sudan’s Darfur region in late October, according to the United Nations.

The Rapid Support Forces’ offensive to capture the town of El Fasher included widespread atrocities that amount to war crimes and possible crimes against humanity, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said in a report released Friday.

“The wanton violations carried out by the RSF and allied Arab militias during the final offensive on El-Fasher underscore that persistent impunity fuels continuing cycles of violence,” said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk.

The RSF and its allied Arab militias, known as the Janjaweed, invaded El-Fasher, the only stronghold of the Sudanese army in Darfur, on October 26 and sacked the town and its surroundings after more than 18 months of siege.

The 29-page UN report details a series of atrocities ranging from massacres and summary executions, sexual violence, kidnappings for ransom, torture and ill-treatment, including detention and disappearances. In many cases, the attacks were motivated by ethnicity, the statement said.

RSF did not respond to an emailed request for comment.

Paramilitary General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo has already acknowledged abuses by his fighters, but has disputed the scale of the atrocities.

“Like a scene from a horror movie”

The alleged atrocities in El-Fasher, the provincial capital of North Darfur, reflect a pattern of RSF in its war against the Sudanese army. The war began in April 2023 when a power struggle between the two camps escalated into open fighting in the capital, Khartoum, and elsewhere in the country.

The conflict has created the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, plunging parts of the country into famine. It was also marked by heinous atrocities that the International Criminal Court said it was investigating as war crimes and crimes against humanity. The RSF has also been accused by the Biden administration of carrying out genocide in the ongoing war.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said it documented the killing of at least 4,400 people in El-Fasher between October 25 and 27, while more than 1,600 others were killed while trying to flee the RSF’s rampage. The report said it drew its findings from interviews with 140 victims and witnesses that “are consistent with independent analysis of satellite images and contemporary video footage.”

In one case, RSF fighters opened fire with heavy weapons on a crowd of 1,000 people taking refuge in the Rashid dormitory at El-Fasher University on October 26, killing around 500 people, according to the report. A witness reportedly said he saw bodies thrown in the air, “like a scene from a horror movie,” according to the report.

In another case, around 600 people, including 50 children, were executed on October 26 while taking refuge in the university premises, according to the report.

The report warns, however, that the real toll from the week-long offensive in El-Fasher is “undoubtedly significantly higher.”

The toll does not include at least 460 people who were killed by the RSF on October 28 during the assault on the Saudi maternity ward, according to the World Health Organization.

Around 300 people were also killed in RSF bombings and drone attacks between October 23 and 24 in the Abou Shouk displaced persons camp, 2.5 kilometers northwest of El Fasher, according to the report from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Woman and girls sexually assaulted

Sexual violence, including rape and gang rape, was apparently widespread during the El Fasher offensive, with RSF fighters and their allied militias targeting women and girls from non-Arab African Zaghawa tribes over allegations of links to or support for the military, the report said.

Türk, who visited Sudan last month, said survivors of sexual violence have reported testimonies showing how the practice “was systematically used as a weapon of war.”

The paramilitaries also kidnapped many people as they tried to flee the city, before releasing them after paying Ramson. Thousands of people were detained in at least 10 detention centers – including the city’s children’s hospital which was transformed into a detention center – run by the RSF in El-Fasher, according to the report.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights also said it had documented 10 detention centers used by paramilitaries in El-Fasher, including the children’s hospital which was transformed into a detention center. Several thousand people are still missing, according to the report.

The pattern of the RSF offensive on El-Fasher mirrors other attacks by the paramilitaries and their allies on the Zamzam internally displaced persons camp, 15 kilometers (9 miles) south of the town, as well as on the West Darfur town of Geneina and the neighboring town of Ardamata in 2023, the UN Human Rights Office said.

Türk said there were “reasonable grounds” that RSF and its allied Arab militias had committed war crimes, and that their actions also constituted crimes against humanity.

He called for those responsible – including commanders – to be held accountable, warning that “persistent impunity fuels continuing cycles of violence.”