6,000 dead in the first 72 hours as el-Fasher marks one year under RSF rule

Monitoring groups have confirmed at least 6,000 deaths in the first three days following the Rapid Support Forces' capture of el-Fasher in October 2025. This figure, derived from satellite imagery, marks the start of a conflict that began in April 2023 between the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces. The death toll represents the largest single massacre of the war, a scale that researchers at Yale's Humanitarian Research Lab compared to the Rwandan genocide.

One year after the fall, residents who escaped are returning to the city to retrieve personal documents. Hala, who uses a pseudonym for safety, traveled from the Tawila refugee camp three weeks ago to collect her birth certificate and identification. Upon arrival, RSF fighters provided her with a handwritten entry permit. The next day, soldiers addressed her in the street using abusive language. She stated that she avoided physical attack only because other civilians were present. Hala described the city as lacking security, noting that women face sexual violence and those who refuse demands are beaten or tortured.

Mohamed Hassan, another survivor from el-Fasher, reported that fighters executed men they suspected of serving in the army or its allied Joint Forces. The violence was concentrated in specific locations. Approximately 500 people were killed at the Saudi Maternity Hospital, where displaced families and staff had sheltered. UN investigators also documented killings at el-Fasher University, on exit roads, and at the defensive berms surrounding the city. Before the assault, roughly 260,000 people remained inside the city limits.

New evidence is emerging from the North Kordofan town of Bara. This week, volunteers discovered 200 mass graves in the area. They have recovered more than 600 bodies, most of which are identified as civilians killed during the same October offensive. Yale researchers tracked 150 clusters of objects consistent with human remains between late October and late November 2025. Twenty of these clusters showed signs of burning, while 57 disappeared completely within four weeks, suggesting an effort to erase evidence.

The RSF has maintained a communications blackout in el-Fasher and restricted access for human rights investigators. When a UN team entered under close supervision in December, they described the city as a crime scene. One in six people screened by the team suffered from severe acute malnutrition. RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, announced an investigation into violations by his troops. The UAE, accused of backing the RSF, denies involvement, though a UN fact-finding mission concluded in February that the RSF committed acts of genocide.

Displacement has expanded the crisis. Tawila now hosts approximately 800,000 people, the majority of whom are from el-Fasher. Survivors report that the RSF continues to detain fleeing men and demand ransoms of up to $3,000. Khadijah, an elderly woman from el-Geneina, currently lives under a tree on a farm with minimal food and shelter. Mudathir Mohammed Diqourni, a member of an el-Fasher resistance committee, stated that RSF militias are destroying farms and killing farmers in South and Central Darfur.

A 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 member of the mission, listed the supplies as including weapons, drone-related equipment, logistical support, and personnel. The United States remains the UAE's top weapons supplier, and British weaponry has been recovered from Sudanese battlefields.