Following an appeal by 49 rights groups, a cross-regional group of states requested an urgent United Nations Human Rights Council session on atrocities in North Darfur’s capital, El Fasher, in Sudan.
The session, planned for November 14, follows reports and images of mass atrocities by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which is battling the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF)following the takeover of El Fasher on October 26.
Human Rights Watch analyzed dozens of videos filmed by the RSF showing fighters celebrating over dead people, executing apparent civilians, including injured people, and taunting people. One video shows an RSF soldier executing an older man in civilian clothes inside the Faculty of Medicine in a room already littered with bodies. The UN reported that the RSF massacred patients and staff in Al-Saudi Maternity Hospital.
The horror of these appalling abuses is tragically familiar. The RSF has committed crimes against humanity throughout the current conflict, including an ethnic cleansing campaign in West Darfur in 2023, and widespread sexual violence in Khartoum and South Kordofan.
The risk of ongoing violations in North Darfur and the Kordofan region persists. The UN has recently warned of “emerging of serious violations in the context of the RSF capture of Bara in North Kordofan.”
The UN and the African Union have failed to act to protect civilians and to close the accountability gap. Too many governments have been reluctant to sanction those most responsible or confront those providing military support to the RSF, notably the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This latest wave of atrocities needs to mark a turning point.
The special session in Geneva offers an opportunity to spotlight abuses, step up accountability efforts, and apply pressure on the RSF and their backers. It should center the voices of those affected by the crisis. The Human Rights Council should request—and adequately resource—a special investigation by the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan into atrocities around El Fasher and the role of external actors in fueling them. It should also ask them to transmit relevant evidence to the International Criminal Court to support its investigations.
Global and regional leaders and bodies should call on UAE to suspend its support to the RSF, sanction the RSF leadership, and deploy a physical protection mission. Anything short of this will risk more lives and further empower a force that has for years deliberately terrorized and targeted civilians.
