Sudan: RSF atrocities in El Fasher 'a stain on the conscience of humanity'

The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) committed crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing during its campaign to seize El Fasher in North Darfur state in Sudan, Amnesty International concluded in a major report. The organization is now calling for an immediate ceasefire in Sudan, and for the urgent deployment of an international force to protect civilians. The report, 'City Under Siege, Children Under Fire', documents how civilians in and around El Fasher were killed, injured, beaten, tortured and detained between early 2024 and October 2025. The RSF's crimes included murder, forcible transfer, imprisonment, torture, rape, sexual slavery, other forms of sexual violence, enslavement, extermination and persecution. "The war in Sudan is a war on civilians. The world was warned of the horrors that civilians in El Fasher confronted as the RSF laid siege to the city. It is a stain on the conscience of humanity," said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International's Secretary General. "Children were not collateral damage of this violence – often, they were deliberately targeted and have suffered immensely. They have been killed, injured, raped, abducted, and forcibly recruited on a massive scale." Amnesty International interviewed 247 people for the report, including 208 survivors. The report also contains open-source analysis, including 89 videos and extensive analysis of satellite imagery from North Darfur. Amnesty believes the acts documented may be relevant to the crime of genocide. Amnesty is calling for a nationwide ceasefire and an independent, adequately resourced international force to be deployed to Sudan to protect civilians against crimes by all parties to the conflict.