Amnesty International released a report on Wednesday alleging that Sudan's Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group committed ethnic cleansing and other crimes against humanity during its siege and capture of the city of el-Fasher in North Darfur.

The report, titled "City Under Siege, Children Under Fire: Rapid Support Forces' Crimes Against Humanity in North Darfur," is based on interviews with 247 victims and witnesses conducted between early 2024 and October 2025. It states that RSF systematically attacked settlements around el-Fasher inhabited by the Zaghawa ethnic group.

The document details widespread and deliberate violence against children, including killings, abductions, forced recruitment, and rape. Amnesty Secretary General Agnes Callamard described the conflict as a "war on civilians" and said children were "not collateral damage — often, they were deliberately targeted."

Amnesty said RSF members filmed and publicly shared videos of mass executions, verifying 19 videos showing a large massacre near a berm around the city. Nine of these videos allegedly show RSF commander Al-Fateh Abdullah Idris, known as "Abu Lulu," executing captives in civilian clothing.

The report also implicates two senior commanders at the Mina al-Bari detention facility: Major General Gedo Hamdan Ahmed Mohamed ("Abu Shouk") allegedly directed interrogations and participated in torture, while Lieutenant Colonel Abbas Khater Bhakit was seen ordering torture and facilitating payments.

An independent UN fact-finding mission concluded in February that the assault on el-Fasher bore the "hallmarks of genocide." The civil war between Sudan's army and the RSF, which began in 2023, has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions. Amnesty called for an immediate nationwide ceasefire and deployment of an international force to protect civilians.

Source: www.dw.com