RSF accused of crimes against humanity over el-Fasher siege

Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have allegedly committed numerous crimes against humanity during their siege of the city of el-Fasher in Darfur, UN investigators say.

The report by the UN Fact-Finding Mission accuses the group of “murder, torture, enslavement, rape, sexual slavery, sexual violence, forced displacement and persecution on ethnic, gender and political grounds”.

It also cited broader evidence of alleged war crimes by both the RSF and the regular army, however both sides have previously denied any wrongdoing in the country’s ongoing civil war.

The UN report said the two groups targeted civilians in numerous ways and as deliberate strategies.

“Both sides have deliberately targeted civilians through attacks, summary executions, arbitrary detention, torture, and inhuman treatment in detention facilities, including denial of food, sanitation, and medical care,” said Fact-Finding Mission chair, Mohamed Chande Othman.

“These are not accidental tragedies but deliberate strategies amounting to war crimes.”

Highlighting the RSF’s actions in el-Fasher, the report accused the group of using starvation as a method of warfare that might amount to the crime of extermination.

In April, the RSF stormed the Zamzam camp near el-Fasher, forcing tens of thousands of the world’s most destitute people to flee their homes once more. The situation in the camp was already so bad that a famine had been declared there.

The city of el-Fasher has been under siege for more than a year and is the Sudanese army’s last major foothold in the Darfur region of the country.

The US has accused the RSF of committing genocide against Darfur’s non-Arabic population. The paramilitary group has denied responsibility and blames the violence on local militias.

The US has also placed sanctions on army chief Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan blaming him for civilian deaths and using food deprivation as a weapon of war.

The army has been at war with the RSF since April 2023, with the latter recently intensifying its offensive on el-Fasher, local people have previously told the BBC.

Recent research conducted by Yale University analysing satellite images showed that 31km (19 miles) of raised banks had been built since May in areas populated by the RSF just outside the city, and that there was an intention to essentially trap civilians.

The report, titled “A War of Atrocities” called on the international community to enforce an arms embargo as well as set up an independent judicial process to ensure alleged perpetrators face justice.

“Our findings leave no room for doubt: civilians are paying the highest price in this war,” Mr Othman added.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed in Sudan’s civil war and forced some 13 million to flee their homes.