Warning - this report contains distressing descriptions of sexual and physical violence.
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TRANSCRIPT
Inside a destroyed camp, a woman cries in Arabic: "All these people are dead or injured, more than thirty. The RSF attacked here this morning."
The video was filmed at the Dar Al-Aquam displacement camp in El-Fasher in North Darfur on the 11th of October
last year after a drone strike killed dozens of civilians including children.
The man recording - Mohamed Khamis Douda - died three weeks later, when, after an 18-month long siege, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces captured the city.
Both that siege and the subsequent takeover, are the subject of an independent fact-finding mission by the United Nations, which has now delivered its findings.
Mona Rishmawi is an Expert Member of the Mission.
"Based on the pattern, consolidation, scale, systematic nature, and cumulative effect of these crimes, there is only one possible conclusion: it's an indication of a path of genocide.”
Investigators began gathering evidence in October 2023.
They were not able to visit El-Fasher but based their report on more than 320 interviews with survivors, statements from RSF commanders and verified videos and satellite images.
“This is not a conclusion we reach lightly. It is inferred from the body of evidence as a whole, from the scale and sequence of attacks, from the coordinated mass killings and executions, from the widespread rape, from the starvation, siege, from the pattern of ethnic targeting and from the statements by the perpetrators expressing intent to eliminate and destroy these communities.”
Since April 2023, the conflict between Sudan's army and the RSF has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced 11 million.
In Darfur, Arab militias aligned with the RSF have targeted non-Arabs.
The report concludes that thousands of people "were killed, raped or disappeared".
It also details widespread sexual violence targeting females aged seven to 70. ((including the rape of young girls in front of their family members or dead relatives, and the targeting of pregnant women. ))
Edem Wosornu is the Director of Crisis Response for the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
“Sexual violence against women and girls has reached horrific levels, simply put. Documented cases have nearly tripled, and we know this is a fraction of the real scale, given the barriers to reporting. Partners have also witnessed a sharp rise in female genital mutilation, domestic violence, exploitation and child forced marriage. The IPC (Integrated Food Security Phase Classification) further warns that the number of children and pregnant and breastfeeding women estimated to face acute malnutrition has now reached 4.2 million people. “
The RSF has not yet responded to the report but has in the past denied such abuses.
Both sides have been accused of committing human rights abuses and war crimes.
The UN mission found perpetrators in the conflict acted with impunity, contributing to the scale of atrocities.
UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper tabled the report at the UN Security Council, demanding its recommendations be acted upon.
“It is the greatest humanitarian crisis of the 21st century and the world must not look away.”
The report calls for the full enforcement of an existing arms embargo on Darfur and its expansion to the rest of Sudan, and an end to support for all parties in the conflict from external countries.
“We need action from across the international community: international criminal investigations, accountability for vile perpetrators and justice for victims. We need to extend sanctions, we need international pressure for a humanitarian truce and a ceasefire. And we need an end to the arms flows that are fuelling this conflict. “
The United States has in response announced sanctions on three RSF commanders.
Sudan's ambassador the United Nations Al-Haarith Idriss Al-Harith Mohammed told the Security Council its government is engaged with regional peacekeepers and the international community to end the violence.
"Sudan today is engaged in a fierce war fought by its armed forces We are also keen to launch an inclusive national dialogue with all political and societal forces. “
But there are warnings that, without action, the violence could be repeated in other parts of the country.
UN Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo told the Security Council:
“The horrific events in El-Fasher in October 2025 were preventable. While el-Fasher was under siege for more than a year, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights repeatedly sounded the alarm about the risk of mass atrocities. But the warnings were not heeded. High Commissioner Türk has now alerted the global community to the possibility of similar crimes in Kordofan. Civilians are again at risk of summary executions, sexual violence, arbitrary detention and family separation. The time to act to prevent a repeat of atrocities elsewhere in the country is now.”
