Sudanese rebels' 18-month siege bears 'hallmarks of genocide', UN officials say

An 18-month siege and mass killings carried out by Sudanese rebels during their seizure of a city in Darfur bore the hallmarks of genocide, UN experts have said.  The Rapid Support Force paramilitaries are said to have committed atrocities and human rights abuses in el-Fasher during a campaign that started in 2023 and ended with they overran the territory in October 2024.

The conflict also saw Arab militias try to completely destroy non-Arab communities, with more than half the population slaughtered in the bloodbath, according to the independent fact-finding mission. Mona Rishmawi, one of the authors of the report, wrote: "Starvation, denial of assistance, mass killings, rape, torture and enforced disappearance...leaves only one reasonable inference - these are the hallmarks of genocide".

Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper has called for "urgent action" from the international community, including criminal investigations "to ensure accountability for vile perpetrators, justice for victims, and to break the cycle of bloodshed". Rebel commanders "calculated to bring about the physical destruction" of non-Arab areas, in particular the Zaghawa and the Fur communities, according to the report released on Thursday.

UN officials said several thousand civilians were killed when the RSF and fellow paramilitary groups took over el-Fasher, which had been the Sudanese army's only remaining stronghold in Darfur. Only 40% of the city's 260,000 residents were able to flee the assault alive, thousands of whom were wounded, the officials said.

The fate of the rest remains unknown. The report went on to say: "Thousands of persons, particularly the Zaghawa, were killed, raped or disappeared during three days of absolute horror.

"The wanton violations that were perpetrated by the RSF and allied Arab militia in the final offensive on el-Fasher underscore that persistent impunity fuels continued cycles of violence." One witness was quoted as saying that he saw bodies thrown into the air, "like a scene out of a horror movie.