El-Fasher's 6,000 Dead in Three Days Expose RSF's Year-Long Erasure Campaign

At least 6,000 people died in the first 72 hours after the Rapid Support Forces captured el-Fasher, according to satellite imagery analyzed by monitoring groups. The city, the capital of North Darfur, marks one year under RSF rule on October 26, 2026. The assault began on October 26, 2025, following a siege that lasted more than 500 days. Approximately 260,000 residents remained inside the city when the final offensive started.

Survivors say the violence has persisted since the fall. Hala, a woman who uses a pseudonym for safety, returned to el-Fasher from the Tawila refugee camp three weeks ago to retrieve personal documents. RSF fighters issued her a handwritten entry permit upon her arrival. The following day, soldiers spoke to her in the street with abusive language. She stated that women face sexual violence and that anyone refusing RSF demands risks beating or torture. "There is no security in el-Fasher at all," she said.

Mohamed Hassan, a resident, described how fighters targeted men they believed to be soldiers in the Sudanese Armed Forces or allied Joint Forces. Close to 500 people were killed at the Saudi Maternity Hospital, where displaced families and medical staff had sheltered. UN investigators documented mass killings at el-Fasher University, on exit roads, and at the defensive berms built by the RSF around the city. The full death toll may never be determined due to the RSF's communications blackout and its ban on human rights investigators.

Yale University's Humanitarian Research Lab identified 150 clusters of objects consistent with human remains between October 26 and November 28, 2025. Twenty of these sites showed signs of burning, while 57 disappeared entirely within four weeks. The lab stated that the speed and scale of the killing could only be compared to the Rwandan genocide. RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, announced an investigation into violations by his soldiers. A UN team that entered the city in December called it a crime scene and found that one in six screened individuals suffered from severe acute malnutrition.

Displacement continues to strain resources in the region. Tawila camp now hosts around 800,000 people, most of whom are from el-Fasher. Survivors report that the RSF still detains fleeing men and demands ransoms of up to $3,000. Khadijah, an elderly woman from el-Geneina, said she lives under a tree on a farm with little food and no shelter. Mudathir Mohammed Diqourni, a member of an el-Fasher resistance committee, said RSF militias are destroying farms and killing farmers in South and Central Darfur.

The UN fact-finding mission concluded in February that the RSF committed acts of genocide in el-Fasher. The mission found reasonable grounds to believe that private companies and recruiters based in the UAE routed weapons through Chad, southeastern Libya, and Bosaso in Somalia. Mona Rishmawi, a member of the mission, said the supplies included weapons, drone-related equipment, logistical help, and personnel. The United States remains the UAE's top weapons supplier, and British weaponry has been found on Sudanese battlefields.