The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) committed crimes against humanity, including ethnic cleansing, during its campaign to seize El Fasher in Sudan’s North Darfur state, Amnesty International said in a report released on Wednesday.
The rights group called for an immediate nationwide ceasefire and the urgent deployment of an international force to protect civilians, saying widespread abuses had continued with impunity.
The report, City Under Siege, Children Under Fire: Rapid Support Forces’ Crimes Against Humanity in North Darfur, documents alleged abuses committed between early 2024 and October 2025 as the RSF fought the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and allied Joint Forces for control of the region.
Amnesty said the abuses included murder, forcible transfer, imprisonment, torture, rape, sexual slavery, other forms of sexual violence, enslavement, extermination and persecution.
The report says hundreds of thousands of children were displaced during the conflict, many of them repeatedly exposed to attacks while fleeing. Others were orphaned, while people with disabilities and older people faced heightened risks of violence, abandonment and exclusion from humanitarian assistance.
Amnesty said RSF fighters frequently used the term falangay, referring to slavery or servitude, when attacking civilians from non-Arab ethnic groups.
“The war in Sudan is a war on civilians. The world was warned of the horrors that civilians in El Fasher confronted as the RSF laid siege to the city. It is a stain on the conscience of humanity,” Amnesty Secretary General Agnès Callamard said.
“Children were not collateral damage of this violence – often, they were deliberately targeted and have suffered immensely. They have been killed, injured, raped, abducted and forcibly recruited on a massive scale.”
She called for an immediate ceasefire and an independent, adequately resourced international protection force, warning that civilians would continue to suffer without urgent international action.
Amnesty interviewed 247 people for the report, including 208 survivors—169 adults and 39 children—who either experienced or witnessed conflict-related abuses. The investigation also relied on analysis of 89 videos and satellite imagery from North Darfur.
The organisation said it sent a letter outlining its findings to RSF leader General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo on June 10, 2026, but had received no response by the time the report was published.
Based on the evidence gathered, Amnesty concluded that persecution based on ethnic identity had occurred and said some documented acts, together with other alleged crimes under investigation, could be relevant to genocide investigations.
Siege of El Fasher
Amnesty said the RSF controlled four of Darfur’s five state capitals by November 2023, leaving El Fasher as the only city outside its control.
Beginning in 2024, the RSF allegedly launched systematic attacks on villages, towns and displacement camps surrounding El Fasher, targeting civilians, looting property and destroying civilian infrastructure.
Many of the affected communities were predominantly inhabited by members of the Zaghawa ethnic group. Amnesty said the destruction of homes after residents had fled suggested an intent to make the areas permanently uninhabitable, amounting to ethnic cleansing.
The report includes testimony from survivors, including a 17-year-old Zaghawa boy who said RSF fighters beat and shot him after referring to him as the “child of a falangay.” Eight of his cousins, including four boys aged between 11 and 17, were reportedly killed in the same attack.
Amnesty said the RSF maintained a siege on El Fasher from May 2024 to October 2025, restricting food and humanitarian supplies while shelling the city almost daily.
The blockade contributed to famine conditions, forcing residents to survive on ambaz, a peanut oil by-product commonly used as animal feed.
Women described giving birth in underground shelters, bombed hospitals and while fleeing violence, often without adequate food or medical care.
Final offensive
Amnesty said the RSF launched its final offensive on El Fasher on Oct. 26, 2025.
According to the report, civilians attempting to flee encountered a 57-kilometre network of earth berms, where hundreds were allegedly executed and many others tortured or detained.
Among 70 survivors interviewed, nearly all reported witnessing executions, rape, torture or hostage-taking.
One survivor estimated she saw more than 1,000 bodies near the berms.
The report also alleges that many children were killed during the assault.
Amnesty further accused the RSF of attacking Saudi Maternity Hospital in El Fasher, saying the assault on a protected medical facility constituted a war crime.
Sexual violence and child recruitment
The report says the RSF carried out widespread sexual violence, including rape of women and girls.
Amnesty interviewed 26 survivors of sexual violence, including three girls under 18.
One 13-year-old Zaghawa girl told investigators she was abducted after witnessing her father’s killing and was repeatedly raped after being taken hundreds of kilometres away.
The organisation also documented arbitrary detention, hostage-taking for ransom and widespread abuse in detention facilities.
Former detainees described severe beatings, ethnic insults, overcrowding, starvation and dehydration, with many witnessing fellow detainees die from disease or lack of water.
Amnesty said it also documented the recruitment and use of boys by the RSF, either from allied Arab communities or through abductions from non-Arab groups. Children were reportedly used as fighters, intelligence gatherers and livestock herders.
Command responsibility
Amnesty identified several RSF commanders allegedly linked to serious violations of international law.
The report says videos verified by Amnesty show commander Al-Fateh Abdullah Idris, also known as “Abu Lulu,” participating in the execution of captives wearing civilian clothing.
Senior officers at the Mina al-Bari detention centre, including Major General Gedo Hamdan Ahmed Mohamed and Lieutenant Colonel Abbas Khater Bakhit, were also accused of overseeing torture and other abuses.
Amnesty said the repeated and widespread nature of the violations suggested senior commanders knew, or should have known, about the abuses and failed to prevent them or hold those responsible accountable.
Recommendations
Amnesty urged the international community to move beyond expressions of concern and take concrete measures to protect civilians and end impunity.
It also called for increased humanitarian assistance, continued support for accountability mechanisms including the International Criminal Court, and investigations into commanders identified in the report.
The organisation further urged all countries to halt arms supplies to parties involved in the Sudan conflict, expand the U.N. arms embargo beyond Darfur to the whole country, and stop providing weapons to states accused of backing the RSF until they comply with international obligations.
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