El Fasher survivors face ongoing detention

Residents of el-Fasher in North Darfur face daily risks of detention and violence one year after the Rapid Support Forces took control of the city. Survivors who have returned to the area describe an environment where fear persists and basic safety is rare. A woman identified as Hala, who speaks under a pseudonym for security, returned from the Tawila refugee camp three weeks ago to retrieve her birth certificate and identification documents.

Upon her arrival, RSF fighters questioned her and issued a handwritten entry permit. The following day, fighters spoke to her in the street using abusive language. Hala stated that she avoided a physical attack only because other civilians were present. She noted that women face sexual violence and that anyone refusing RSF demands risks beating or torture. She has since returned to Tawila and says she will not go back to el-Fasher.

The RSF began its final offensive on October 26, 2025, ending a siege of more than 500 days. The subsequent violence constituted the largest single massacre of the war that started in April 2023. Researchers at Yale's Humanitarian Research Lab compared the speed and scale of the killing to the Rwandan genocide. Approximately 260,000 people remained inside the city when the assault began.

Monitoring groups using satellite imagery counted at least 6,000 dead in the first 72 hours. Mohamed Hassan, a survivor from el-Fasher, reported that fighters fired on men they judged to be army soldiers or Joint Forces allies. 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 berms surrounding the city.

Yale researchers identified 150 clusters of objects consistent with human remains between October 26 and November 28, 2025. Twenty of these clusters showed signs of burning, and 57 vanished within four weeks. 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 under close supervision described it as a crime scene.

The siege severely depleted medical resources. A doctor who worked in an el-Fasher hospital for nearly two years reported that generators ran for only two hours a night. Emergency surgery was performed by phone flashlight, and supplies of antibiotics and surgical gauze ran out. The World Food Programme reported that residents survived on animal fodder and food waste.

Displacement continues to place pressure on neighboring areas. Tawila now hosts around 800,000 people, most of whom are from el-Fasher. Survivors say the RSF still detains fleeing men and demands ransoms of up to $3,000. In the nearby town of Bara, volunteers recovered more than 600 bodies from 200 mass graves, most of them civilians killed during the October offensive.

A UN fact-finding mission concluded in February that the RSF committed acts of genocide in el-Fasher. The US government and Amnesty International reached similar findings about the conflict in Darfur. The UN 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, stated that the supplies included weapons, drone-related equipment, logistical help, and personnel.