For 18 months, Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) laid siege to El Fasher, the capital city of the country’s North Darfur state.
During the siege, RSF fighters largely prevented aid from entering the city and made it hard for civilians to flee. Many faced famine conditions.
In the final weeks of its offensive, the RSF led brutal assaults on areas still under the control of rival factions and tightened its siege on the city. As fighters closed in on the last areas, they unleashed a pandemonium of violence, massacring civilians on a large scale.
Human Rights Watch has documented atrocities in West Darfur and spoken to people who fled earlier rounds of fighting and abuse.
Following the fall of El Fasher in October 2025, Laetitia Bader, Human Rights Watch’s deputy Africa director, and Jean-Baptiste Gallopin, senior Crisis and Conflict advisor, traveled to eastern Chad where they interviewed dozens of refugees who had fled the city.
>> Read about the team’s findings in this new Q&A
Meeting with survivors confirmed that the world has failed civilians in Sudan, the team said.
What happened when El Fasher fell was a massacre foretold. And as civilians again face the risk of mass atrocities, action is more urgent than ever.
Read the interview
