Sudan’s RSF committed war crimes, ethnic cleansing: Amnesty

The Sudanese paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) committed crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing during their campaign to seize el-Fasher between 2024 and 2025, Amnesty International said Wednesday.

In a newly released report, the rights group accused three senior RSF commanders of overseeing war crimes during the siege and capture of the city.

Speaking during the launch of the report in Nairobi, Amnesty International Secretary-General Agnes Callamard said the RSF committed murder, forcible transfer, imprisonment, torture, rape, sexual slavery, other forms of sexual violence, enslavement, extermination and persecution in El-Fasher.

“It is a stain on the conscience of humanity,” Callamard said in a statement, reiterating her call for an immediate cease-fire and the deployment of a United Nations protection force to safeguard civilians.

The United Nations and humanitarian agencies have previously reported that more than 6,000 people were killed in just three days during the RSF’s assault on el-Fasher in October 2025, with U.N. experts stating at the time that the offensive bore the “hallmarks of genocide.”

Amnesty’s wide-ranging report found that the RSF “systematically attacked settlements around el-Fasher which housed the Zaghawa people, an ethnic group in western Darfur.”

The rights group analyzed nine videos showing one RSF commander executing civilians, another torturing detainees and a third ordering the torture of prisoners.

The report further revealed what it described as “widespread and deliberate violence against children, including killing, abductions, forced recruitment, and rape.”

RSF fighters also burned homes long after residents had fled, the report stated, “suggesting an intent to render the areas uninhabitable,” consistent with “ethnic cleansing.”

During the final RSF offensive on el-Fasher, Amnesty said “hundreds were executed, and many others were tortured or detained” as they attempted to flee.

Amnesty interviewed 247 victims or witnesses from North Darfur between early 2024 and October 2025. The report noted violations happened “repeatedly and on a large scale,” suggesting “those in positions of authority knew, or should have known, what was occurring, and failed to stop it or hold anyone accountable.” Amnesty International said it shared the report with the RSF’s leader, Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, but had not received a response.

“This also requires strengthening accountability by ensuring sufficient support for all existing accountability mechanisms for Sudan, including the International Criminal Court and U.N. and African Union-backed fact-finding missions. Commanders identified in this report should be investigated and, where there is sufficient admissible evidence, prosecuted,” said Callamard.

Sudan has been mired in civil conflict since April 2023, after tensions erupted between the country’s army and the RSF. The war has killed at least 59,000 people, displaced some 13 million and left more than 30 million in need of humanitarian assistance, while driving much of the country into famine, according to the U.N.

Both warring sides have been accused of atrocities, with a U.N. independent fact-finding mission in February concluding that the 2025 assault on el-Fasher bore the “hallmarks of genocide.” Amnesty International stressed its investigation remains ongoing and said the acts detailed in its report “may be relevant to the crime of genocide.”

The report’s release comes as the U.N. Human Rights Council held a debate over the city of el-Obeid in North Kordofan, where there are mounting fears of an imminent RSF assault after weeks of intense attacks.

Amnesty International continues to urge immediate international action to protect Sudanese civilians from further violence.

DAILYSABAH