Survivors say fear persists in el-Fasher one year after RSF capture

One year after the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) captured el-Fasher, North Darfur’s capital, survivors report that violence continues. Hala, a woman who uses a pseudonym for safety, returned to the city three weeks ago from the Tawila refugee camp to retrieve her birth certificate and ID. RSF fighters questioned her upon arrival and provided a handwritten entry permit with her name, a signature, and a date. The following day, soldiers addressed her in the street with abusive language. Hala said she avoided physical attack only because other civilians were present. She stated there is no security in el-Fasher, noting that women face sexual violence and those who refuse RSF demands are beaten or tortured. She has since returned to Tawila and intends not to go back.

The RSF began its final offensive on October 26, 2025, following a siege of more than 500 days. This event marked the largest single massacre of the war against the Sudanese Armed Forces, which started in April 2023. Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab researchers compared the speed and scale of the killing to the Rwandan genocide. Mohamed Hassan, an el-Fasher resident, described fighters firing on men and executing anyone identified as an army or Joint Forces soldier. Approximately 500 people died at the Saudi Maternity Hospital, where displaced families and medical staff sheltered. UN investigators documented mass killings at el-Fasher University, on exit roads, and at RSF-built berms.

The total death toll remains uncertain. About 260,000 people were in the city when the assault began. Monitoring groups used satellite imagery to count at least 6,000 dead in the first 72 hours. The RSF has maintained a communications blackout and blocked human rights investigators. In the North Kordofan town of Bara, this week saw the discovery of 200 mass graves. Volunteers recovered more than 600 bodies, mostly civilians killed during the October offensive according to witnesses. Yale researchers identified 150 clusters of objects consistent with human remains between October 26 and November 28, 2025. Twenty showed signs of burning, and 57 disappeared within four weeks.

RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, announced an investigation into violations by his troops. A UN team that entered under close supervision in December called the city a crime scene. One in six people screened suffered from severe acute malnutrition. A doctor who worked in an el-Fasher hospital for nearly two years reported generators ran only two hours nightly. Emergency surgeries were performed by phone flashlight, and antibiotics and surgical gauze were depleted. The World Food Programme stated residents survived on animal fodder and food waste. In February, a UN fact-finding mission concluded the RSF committed acts of genocide in el-Fasher. The US government and Amnesty International reached similar findings regarding Darfur.

Displacement remains widespread. Tawila hosts around 800,000 people, most from el-Fasher. Survivors say the RSF still detains fleeing men and demands ransoms of up to $3,000. Khadijah, an elderly woman from el-Geneina, lives under a tree on a farm with little food and no shelter. Mudathir Mohammed Diqourni of an el-Fasher resistance committee reported that RSF militias are destroying farms and killing farmers in South and Central Darfur. The UN mission found reasonable grounds to believe private companies and recruiters based in the UAE routed weapons through Chad, southeastern Libya, and Bosaso in Somalia. Mona Rishmawi, a mission member, said supplies included weapons, drone equipment, logistical help, and personnel. The United States remains the UAE's top weapons supplier, and British weaponry has appeared on Sudanese battlefields.