The United Nations Independent International Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) for the Sudan has released a damning report on atrocities by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) during their takeover of El Fasher, North Darfur, in late October 2025.
It concludes that the RSF, which is fighting Sudan’s military for control of the country, committed war crimes and crimes against humanity and that its “conduct, and inferred intent, present indications pointing to genocide.” The report warns that without decisive measures to advance accountability and protection of civilians, “the risk of further genocidal violence remains acute.”
The 18-month siege on El Fasher, the mission members found, was deliberately calculated to leave the population on its knees. It preceded “three days of horror” during which RSF forces rampaged through the city, killing, forcibly disappearing, and raping thousands. They further found that “[i]dentity-based targeting linked to ethnicity, gender, and perceived political affiliation was a central element of the RSF operation.” They concluded that the hallmarks of at least three underlying acts of genocide were present.
The atrocities in El Fasher were wholly predictable, fitting into what the fact-finding mission described as the RSF’s “modus operandi” across Darfur and making clear that only a radical shift in global response to RSF crimes can prevent further atrocities.
The report provides a compelling roadmap on protection and accountability as conflict expands into the Kordofan region.
The UN Security Council should immediately endorse the deployment of a civilian protection mission and enforce and expand the UN arms embargo from Darfur to the whole of Sudan. Other countries should speak out against the UAE’s ongoing military support to the RSF, and the UN should investigate the UAE’s potential complicity in these crimes.
UN member states, notably Security Council members, should act to advance accountability, including through targeted sanctions, supporting the International Criminal Court and expanding its jurisdiction across Sudan; and pursuing universal jurisdiction cases, which could draw on the confidential dossiers the FFM is preparing on individual perpetrators. States should work with UN leadership to support the mission’s ongoing investigations, ensuring it has the necessary resources.
States should commit to decisive action when convening to discuss the mission’s report in Geneva on February 26. Without such action yet more Sudanese civilians will suffer similar horrors to those laid bare in this report.
