UN says at least 6,000 killed over 3 days during RSF attack on Sudan’s el-Fasher : NPR

CAIRO – More than 6,000 people were killed over three days when a Sudanese paramilitary group unleashed “a wave of intense violence … shocking in its scale and brutality” in Sudan’s Darfur region in late October, according to the United Nations.

The Rapid Support Force offensive to capture the town of al-Fashar involved widespread atrocities that amounted to war crimes and potential crimes against humanity, the UN human rights office said in a report released on Friday.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said, “The uncontrolled violations committed by RSF and allied Arab militias in the final assault on al-Fashar highlight that continued impunity perpetuates the cycle of violence.”

The RSF and their allied Arab militias, known as the Janjaweed, captured al-Fashar, the Sudanese army’s only remaining stronghold in Darfur, on 26 October and razed the town and its surroundings after more than 18 months of siege.

The 29-page UN report detailed a set of atrocities that ranged from mass killings and summary executions, sexual violence, kidnapping for ransom, torture and ill-treatment, to detention and disappearances. It said that in many cases the attacks were ethnically motivated.

RSF did not respond to an emailed request for comment.

Paramilitary General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo has previously acknowledged abuses by his fighters, but disputed the scale of the atrocities.

‘Like a scene from a horror movie’

The alleged atrocities in al-Fashar, the provincial capital of North Darfur, reflect a pattern of RSF conduct in the war against the Sudanese army. The war began in April 2023 when the power struggle between the two sides escalated into open fighting in the capital Khartoum and elsewhere across the country.

The conflict created the world’s largest humanitarian crisis and parts of the country were pushed into famine. It has also been marked by heinous atrocities, which the International Criminal Court has said it is investigating as war crimes and crimes against humanity. The RSF was also accused by the Biden administration of committing genocide in the ongoing war.

The UN human rights office said it documented the killing of at least 4,400 people inside al-Fashar between 25 October and 27 October, while more than 1,600 others were killed as they tried to flee the RSF attack. The report said it was based on interviews with 140 victims and witnesses, which “are consistent with independent analysis of contemporary satellite imagery and video footage.”

In one case, RSF fighters opened fire with heavy weapons on a crowd of 1,000 people sheltering in the Rashid dormitory at al-Fashar University on October 26, killing about 500, the report said. According to the report, a witness was quoted as saying that he saw bodies thrown into the air, “like a scene from a horror movie”.

In another case, nearly 600 people, including 50 children, were killed while seeking refuge in university facilities on October 26, the report said.

However, the report warned that the true scale of the death toll from the week-long attack in al-Fashar was “undoubtedly much higher.”

According to the World Health Organization, the death toll does not include at least 460 people who were killed during an attack on a Saudi maternity hospital by the RSF on October 28.

The UN Human Rights Office reported that about 300 people were killed in RSF shelling and drone strikes between 23 October and 24 October at the Abu Shouk camp for displaced people, 2.5 kilometers (1.5 mi) northwest of el-Fashar.

Women and girls were sexually harassed

Sexual violence, including rape and gang rape, was apparently widespread during the al-Fashar offensive, with RSF fighters and their allied militias targeting women and girls from the African Zaghawa non-Arab tribes accused of having ties to or supporting the army, the report said.

Turk, who visited Sudan last month, said survivors of sexual violence provided testimony that showed how the practice was “systematically used as a weapon of war.”

The paramilitary forces also abducted several people trying to flee the city, but they were later released after giving them severe punishment. The report said thousands of people are being held in at least 10 detention centers – including the city’s children’s hospital, which was converted into a detention facility – run by RSF in el-Fashar.

The UN Human Rights Office also said it had documented 10 detention facilities used by paramilitaries in al-Fashar, including a children’s hospital that had been converted into a detention center. Reports say that several thousand people are missing and their whereabouts have not been found.

The UN human rights office said the pattern of the RSF attack on el-Fashar mirrored other attacks by paramilitaries and their allies on the Zamzam camp for displaced people, 15 kilometers (9 mi) south of the city, and on the town of Jenina and the nearby town of Ardamata in western Darfur in 2023.

The Turks said there are “reasonable grounds” that the RSF and their allied Arab militias have committed war crimes, and that their actions also constitute crimes against humanity.

He called for those responsible – including commanders – to be held accountable, warning that “persistent impunity perpetuates a continuing cycle of violence.”