Sudan, deaths from artillery fire in al-Fashir.Image: www.imago-images.de
Feb 13, 2026, 6:58 p.mFeb 13, 2026, 6:58 p.m
Paramilitaries in Sudan have committed serious war crimes and possible crimes against humanity, according to the United Nations. More than 6,000 people were killed within three days when the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and allied Arab militias took the major city of Al-Fashir in Darfur in October, the UN human rights office said. The report is based on interviews with more than 140 victims and witnesses.
At least 4,400 people died within Al-Fashir in the three days, and more than 1,600 more along escape routes. The actual number of casualties during the week-long offensive is likely to be significantly higher.
According to the report, the RSF and its allies committed, among other things, mass murders and executions, sexual violence, kidnappings for ransom, torture and looting. The use of children in combat operations is also an accusation. Attacks were often targeted against civilians or people unable to fight, often based on their ethnicity.
UN experts see systematic attacks against civilians in Darfur
Together with previous attacks by the RSF, this indicates an organized and sustained approach that suggests a systematic attack against the civilian population in the Darfur region, it said. Violent acts knowingly committed in this context could be viewed as crimes against humanity.
The regular army and the RSF have been fighting for power in Sudan since April 2023. Experts compare the situation in the Darfur region with the early 2000s, when the forerunners of the RSF militia were involved in the killing of up to 300,000 people there. The Sudanese army is also accused of war crimes, such as bombing civilian targets.
The UN describes the situation as the world’s largest humanitarian crisis. Twelve million people have been displaced by the fighting, and every second resident of the northeast African country is at risk of hunger. (sda/dpa)