Physical & psychological abuseDiscrimination & civil rights

UN investigators say RSF fighters killed at least 6,000 people in 72 hours after taking El Fasher, then spent weeks burning and burying remains

Confidence: Confirmed · 4 sourcesSudan · Oct 12, 2026

Subject of this story

Rapid Support Forces (RSF)

Also named

Oversight

UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan

Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)

Advocate

Yale School of Public Health Humanitarian Research Lab

What happened

The RSF captured El Fasher, North Darfur's capital, in late October 2025 after an 18-month siege. The UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan, in a report released 19 February 2026 and presented to the Human Rights Council on 26 February, found the RSF carried out a coordinated campaign against non-Arab communities, with hallmarks of genocide, and that at least three underlying acts of genocide were committed. UN News reports a UN Human Rights Office estimate that the RSF killed at least 6,000 people in the first 72 hours after taking the city. Yale School of Public Health's Humanitarian Research Lab, whose satellite analysis the UN report relied on, reported on 16 December 2025 a systematic multi-week campaign between 26 October and 28 November 2025 to destroy evidence through burial, burning and removal of remains, with 72 percent of observed body clusters reduced in size and 38 percent no longer visible by 28 November. The RSF's response is not documented in these sources.

Sources (4)

OHCHR (UN Fact-Finding Mission for Sudan)Evidence in El-Fasher reveals a genocidal campaign targeting non-Arab communities; the Fact-Finding Mission found at least three underlying acts of genocide were committed by RSF forces.

news.un.orgUN investigators detail mass killings and ethnic targeting bearing the hallmarks of genocide in El Fasher, including at least 6,000 people killed within 72 hours of the city's capture.

Yale School of Public Health, Humanitarian Research LabSatellite imagery from 27 October 2025 showed activity consistent with door-to-door mass killings in Daraja Oula; analysts identified 150 groups of objects consistent with human bodies, some burned and buried by RSF forces.

Al JazeeraA Yale Humanitarian Research Lab report finds RSF conducted a systematic multi-week campaign between 26 October and 28 November 2025 to destroy evidence of its mass killings in El Fasher through burial, burning and removal of remains.

Response

Rapid Support Forces (RSF)

Statement given

Contacted and responded — exact wording not on record.

What happened next (0)

No outcome recorded yet.

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