Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) committed crimes against humanity and engaged in ethnic cleansing during its seizure of El Fasher last year, Amnesty International has alleged. The human rights organization detailed widespread atrocities, including murder, torture, rape, enslavement, and sexual slavery, which it characterized as part of a systematic attack against civilians.

Amnesty's report, released on Wednesday, highlights that many of these alleged crimes amounted to crimes against humanity due to their widespread and systematic nature. The organization also accused the RSF of deliberately targeting children during attacks in the city, located in North Darfur state.

The RSF captured El Fasher in late October, marking the fall of the last Sudan armed forces stronghold in the Darfur region after an 18-month siege. The takeover was reportedly accompanied by massacres that resulted in tens of thousands of deaths. This event follows concerns raised in February by an independent fact-finding mission for the UN, which stated that the RSF’s seizure of El Fasher bore "hallmarks of genocide" against non-Arab communities.

To compile its findings, Amnesty International conducted interviews with 247 individuals, including 208 survivors of the fighting in El Fasher and surrounding areas. The organization also rigorously analyzed documentary and video evidence, alongside satellite imagery from North Darfur. Based on this comprehensive investigation, Amnesty concluded that the RSF committed war crimes in and around El Fasher between mid-2024 and late 2025.

Amnesty's report specifically found that the RSF frequently targeted non-Arab civilians and employed derogatory and dehumanizing language during attacks. The human rights group concluded that the RSF committed the crime against humanity of persecution on the basis of ethnicity.

The report further details the destruction of towns and villages by the RSF, contributing to a severe humanitarian crisis in the region. The systematic nature of these attacks suggests a deliberate effort to displace or eliminate specific ethnic groups, exacerbating the ongoing conflict in Sudan.

The findings by Amnesty International add significant weight to international calls for accountability for alleged atrocities committed during the conflict. The detailed accounts of enslavement and sexual slavery underscore the extreme brutality faced by civilians caught in the crossfire of the power struggle between the RSF and the Sudanese armed forces.

Questions remain about the full extent of the RSF's actions and the international community's response to these grave allegations. The report is expected to fuel further demands for independent investigations and potential prosecutions of those responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sudan.