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Sudan: UN raises alarm over mass atrocities in El Fasher as survivors report executions, killings and rapes

More details continue to emerge about atrocities committed during and after the fall of El Fasher to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan on 23 October. Since the powerful paramilitary group made a major incursion into the city last week, the UN Human Rights Office has received “horrendous accounts of summary executions, mass killings, rapes, attacks against humanitarian workers, looting, abductions and forced displacement,” said Seif Magango, spokesperson for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

Speaking from Nairobi to journalists in Geneva Mr. Magango said the office has received “testimonies from those who fled El Fasher terrified, and who survived the threatening journey to Tawila, approximately 70 kilometres away”. That journey takes a three to four days on foot.

More than 36,000 people have fled since Saturday, mostly on foot, to Tawila - a town west of El Fasher that is already sheltering more than 652,000 displaced people, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

Despite telecommunications being cut and the chaotic situation on the ground making it difficult to obtain direct information from inside the city, OHCHR estimates that “the death toll of civilians and those placed off the comb during the RSF’s attack on the city, as well as in the days after the takeover, could amount to hundreds”.

The RSF, a paramilitary group, has been locked in a brutal conflict with the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) since April 2023. The group seized control of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state, after forcing Sudan’s army to withdraw from its last stronghold in the western Darfur region.

Distressing reports indicate the killing of sick and wounded individuals inside the Saudi Maternity Hospital and in buildings in the Dara Jawila and Al-Matar neighborhoods, which were being used as temporary medical centers.

“These extremely grave allegations raise urgent questions as to the circumstances of these killings in what should be places of safety for anyone in need of medical help,” Mr. Magango said. He emphasized that an investigation into the atrocities must be carried out in an independent, transparent and prompt manner to ensure justice.

The Human Rights Office has also received alarming reports of sexual violence from humanitarian partners on the ground. “At least 25 women were gang raped when RSF’s forces entered a shelter for displaced people near El Fasher University. Witnesses confirm RSF’s personnel selected women and girls and raped them at gunpoint,” Mr. Magango said.

The pattern of violence has also targeted humanitarian workers and local volunteers supporting vulnerable communities in El Fasher. At least two local humanitarian responders were killed inside the paramilitary-controlled city on 27 and 29 October. The Human rights Office has recorded at least four incidents in which humanitarian personnel and local volunteers were assaulted and confirmed that three doctors are being held by the RSF.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has corroborated reports of attacks on health facilities and personnel, deploring the abduction of six health workers - four doctors, a nurse and a pharmacist. The Saudi Maternity hospital has been attacked five times in October alone.

Following the capture of El Fasher, there is no longer any humanitarian health presence in the city and access remains blocked. The UN heath agency is “unable to assist those who have been impacted, the injuries that have occurred from the multiple attacks against civilians,” explained Dr. Teresa Zakaria, head of WHO’s Humanitarian Operations Unit.

WHO confirmed that 189 attacks have been verified in Sudan this year, resulting in 1,670 deaths and 419 injuries. “Eighty-six per cent of all these attack-related deaths have occurred this year alone and this indicates that attacks are getting deadlier,” Dr. Zakaria said.

Fewer than half of health facilities across Sudan are providing their full range of services, according to WHO. Twelve percent are only partially functional, while 40 percent are completely nonfunctional. In the Kordofan and Darfur states, the situation is significantly worse.

“The Sudan Humanitarian Response Plan to date is only 27.4 per cent funded - a very, very big gap,” Dr Zakaria added. “For the health sector itself, funding stands at 37 per cent, so, we are struggling very much with resources. That’s why we are calling on the international community not to abandon the people of Sudan, because the main actors are our Sudanese organizations, who continue to be present and deliver assistance”.

That call was echoed by Seif Magango who reiterated UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk’s appeal for “states with influence over the parties in the conflict to act urgently to end the violence, halt the flow of arms fueling violations, and ensure meaningful protection of civilians.”

Sudan, a gold- and oil-rich nation- has become the site of the world's largest humanitarian and displacement crisis on record, with about 14 million people displaced out of a population of 51 million. Famine is widespread, and outbreaks of cholera and other deadly diseases are increasing.

With the capture of El Fasher, the RSF’s territorial control now extends across Darfur and parts of Sudan’s south, while the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) control the capital, Khartoum, and much of the country’s north and center.

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