EL-FASHER — Amnesty International released a report on July 2, 2026, accusing three senior commanders of Sudan's Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of overseeing war crimes during the October 2025 siege and capture of el-Fasher in North Darfur.

Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International, stated that the Rapid Support Forces committed crimes against humanity and acts of ethnic cleansing during the assault on el-Fasher. Callamard said, "The RSF's crimes included murder, forcible transfer, imprisonment, torture, rape, sexual slavery, other forms of sexual violence, enslavement, extermination and persecution."

Amnesty International analyzed nine videos showing one RSF commander executing civilians, another torturing detainees, and a third ordering the torture of prisoners. The organization also reviewed 89 open-source videos and conducted satellite imagery analysis from North Darfur. The group said the evidence gathered may be relevant to the crime of genocide.

Callamard called for an immediate ceasefire and the deployment of a United Nations protection force to safeguard civilians. She said, "It 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." Callamard added, "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."

Amnesty International shared the report with Rapid Support Forces leader Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo last month but had not received a response. The RSF has not commented on the report. The RSF leadership acknowledged that some violations occurred and indicated they were investigating them, but insisted that the scale of the atrocities is being exaggerated.

More than 6,000 people were killed in three days during the RSF's seizure of el-Fasher in October 2025. U.N. experts said the attack on el-Fasher bore the "hallmarks of genocide." Amnesty International also stated that Arab fighters from the RSF targeted members of local non-Arab communities, often using ethnic slurs.

Why It Matters

The report details severe human rights abuses in Sudan, specifically citing war crimes, crimes against humanity, and acts of ethnic cleansing during the October 2025 capture of el-Fasher. These accusations follow the outbreak of war in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces, which has since killed at least 59,000 people and displaced some 13 million. The conflict has resulted in more than 30 million people needing humanitarian assistance, with aid agencies reporting 28 million facing acute hunger. The call for an immediate ceasefire and the deployment of a U.N. protection force aims to address the ongoing humanitarian crisis and protect civilians.