Sudan siege ends in bloodbath despite pleas for mercy. Evidence emerges of atrocities committed by paramilitary RSF after it seized control of El Fasher

Report from The Financial Times
By William Wallis in Cairo 
Published Wednesday 29 October 2025 - full copy:

Sudan siege ends in bloodbath despite pleas for mercy 

Evidence emerges of atrocities committed by the paramilitary RSF after it seized control of El Fasher 

A camp for displaced families who fled from El Fasher to Tawila in North Darfur © Mohammed Jamal/Reuters 

The fall of the besieged Sudanese city of El Fasher has turned into a bloodbath that rights activists and experts have foretold for months, according to local and international organisations monitoring the war. 

Since Sunday — when militia fighters of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) over-ran the military garrison in the city, the last stronghold of the Sudan Armed Forces in the west of the country — evidence has emerged of many atrocities against civilians trapped or trying to flee. 

The UN Human Rights Office said it was receiving multiple, alarming reports, including of summary executions committed by the RSF, since the group seized most of El Fasher in the western region of Darfur. The RSF, led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, is vying for control of all of Sudan. 

“Multiple distressing videos received by UN Human Rights show dozens of unarmed men being shot or lying dead, surrounded by RSF fighters,” the UN said. 

Jim Risch, Republican chair of the US Senate foreign relations committee, said on X that the RSF should be designated a foreign terrorist organisation. 

“The horrors in Darfur’s El Fasher were no accident — they were the RSF’s plan all along,” he said. “The RSF has waged terror and committed unspeakable atrocities, genocide among them, against the Sudanese people . . . America is not safer, secure or more prosperous with the RSF slaughtering thousands.” 

The RSF’s capture of El Fasher has potentially far-reaching consequences for Sudan and its two-year civil war. 

The conflict has displaced more than 14mn people, according to the UN, provoked famine and claimed more than 150,000 lives. 

Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, is head of the RSF

 © Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah/Reuters

El Fasher is the largest city in western Sudan and sits at a crossroads of trade routes, giving the RSF greater control of the flow of weapons and supplies into the region through Libya and Chad. 

The end of the siege, and the flight of the SAF and allied former rebels on Sunday, potentially frees up RSF militants to take the fight back to areas of the east and centre of Sudan from which they were driven earlier this year. 

General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, Sudan’s military leader and Hemedti’s rival, on Monday said the army had withdrawn as a result of the “systematic destruction they endured” in the city. 

The killings that have ensued, despite repeated warnings based on previous massacres committed by the RSF, marks a new low for decades-long international efforts to protect civilians from war crimes. 

In videos posted online in the past two days, fighters from the RSF, which grew out of the Janjaweed militia that wreaked havoc on Darfur’s Black tribes in the early part of the century, shout racial slurs and revel in pursuing rake-thin men, women and children fleeing across the scrub outside the city. 

Satellite image shows objects on the ground near what are likely to be RSF vehicles in El Fasher on Monday © AP 

Dozens of captured men, bound and lying in rows along the ground, are denigrated and then executed in footage allegedly posted from RSF accounts. 

Among those captured was Muammar Ibrahim, a freelance journalist who has chronicled the fate of civilians trapped in the city during a nearly 19-month siege. Inhabitants depended on dwindling supplies of animal feed and were under constant drone and artillery bombardment. 

Many advocacy groups have been demanding the release of the Al Jazeera contributor. 

Among those killed on Sunday, according to Sudanese activists in touch with the city and surrounding camps for the displaced, was Siham Hassan, a prominent campaigner for social justice. She was once Sudan’s youngest MP and was running a community kitchen. 

Nathaniel Redmond, director of the Yale school of public health, said on Tuesday that the “horror, scale and velocity of killing” in El Fasher had left pools of blood visible from satellites. 

Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab — which has been tracking the siege using satellite imagery, open-source online information and testimony from eyewitnesses — said it had found “multiple credible reports of mass killings across social media and open sources” in recent days. 

Satellite imagery showing bodies on the ground and “vehicles in tactical formations consistent with house-to-house clearance operations” in a neighbourhood with thousands of civilians also supported allegations that the RSF had carried out mass killings, Yale’s HRL said. 

“The world must act immediately to put the maximum amount of pressure on the RSF and its backers, specifically the [United Arab Emirates], to end the killing now,” it said, adding that the RSF’s actions “may be consistent with war crimes and crimes against humanity and may rise to the level of genocide”. 

Sudanese refugees from Zamzam camp outside El Fasher receive food at an emergency kitchen while being relocated to a transit camp near the Chad border in Tine, eastern Chad, in May © Getty Images 

“The nations of the world might be able to say that they could not have stopped it, but they cannot reasonably say that they did not know,” Yale’s HRL said. 

The RSF said it was committed to “protecting civilians in El Fasher”, and had deployed specialised teams to clear landmines and “secure the streets and public spaces”. 

It described the “liberation” of El Fasher as “a milestone in the Sudanese people’s struggle against oppression and terrorism”. 

The parallel government launched under Hemedti in Darfur said it condemned any violations and would establish committees to investigate the veracity of videos of atrocities circulating online. 

Western officials, including the UK foreign secretary Yvette Cooper and Massad Boulos, US President Donald Trump’s adviser on Arab and African affairs, urged the militia to open up the area to humanitarian access and to “protect civilians”. But these entreaties from afar have had little obvious effect on the fighters on the ground. 

Critics of the west’s ineffectual response to the Sudanese civil war said that only severe pressure on the UAE, which has allegedly backed the RSF with weapons supplies and trade in gold but denies involvement, could prevent further atrocities in El Fasher. 

“It is beyond an open secret that the United Arab Emirates is arming and supporting the RSF,” said Protection Approaches, a UK-based charity that campaigns against identity-based violence. 

“The single most effective action that could bring pause to the massacre in El Fasher is for the right call from Abu Dhabi to be placed to RSF leadership,” it added. 

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2025. All rights reserved.

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View original: https://www.ft.com/content/19d7f37b-cffe-4bf1-a64c-a88535ae017c#comments-anchor

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Sudan's military expels top UN food aid officials as conflict escalates. The WFP said directors of its Sudan operation were declared "personae non grata" and told to go within 72 hours, without explanation

INTERNATIONAL bodies such as the European Union and African Union have expressed alarm, while locals say the current situation is reminiscent of the region's darkest days. 

Darfur experienced one of the world's gravest humanitarian disasters from 2003 to 2020. The Janjaweed, a militia who were accused of genocide and ethnic cleansing during this time, morphed into what is now the RSF.

Read more in this report from BBC News

By Wedaeli Chibelushi

Published Wednesday 29 October 2025 - excerpt:

Sudan's military expels top UN food aid officials as conflict escalates

IMAGE SOURCE, AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES Image caption,

The World Food Programme says it is engaging with Sudanese authorities to resolve the matter

Sudan's military government has ordered two senior officials at the UN's World Food Programme (WFP) to leave the country amid widespread famine sparked by a gruelling civil war that erupted in April 2023.

The WFP said directors of its Sudan operation were declared "personae non grata" and told to go within 72 hours, without explanation.

The decision comes days after the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), captured the key city of el-Fasher in Darfur from the military after an 18-month siege, which included a food blockade.

The WFP said the expulsions came a "pivotal time" as humanitarian needs in Sudan had "never been greater with more than 24 million people facing acute food insecurity".

Although the military government has not given a reason for the expulsions, it has previously accused aid groups of breaking local laws and releasing misleading reports on famine conditions.

The government said the expulsion will not affect the country's cooperation with the WFP, state news agency Suna reported.

The WFP says it is engaging with Sudanese authorities to resolve the matter.

Full story: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5yp2v4n1d5o

More about Sudan's war from the BBC:

A simple guide to what is happening in Sudan

A pregnant woman's diary of escape from war zone

Sudan in danger of self-destructing as conflict and famine reign

El-Fasher siege: My son's whole body is full of shrapnel

Sudan's fertile region where food is rotting amid famine and war

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Sudan: Half a million flee El Fasher, North Darfur as Zamzam camp is obliterated by Janjaweed RSF militia and its leader Hemeti declares formation of rival govt

NOTE from Sudan Watch Editor: This is heartbreaking. Sudan is still the world's largest humanitarian crisis. 12.7m have been forcibly displaced. 25m face famine and extreme hunger. One in three Sudanese are displaced. One in six internally displaced persons (IDPs) globally come from Sudan. 

On April 15, day of London Sudan Conference, half a million IDPs fled to El Fasher and Tawila, N Darfur as Zamzam camp was obliterated by the Janjaweed RSF militia and RSFs chief, Sudan's gold thief Mohamed Hamdan "Hemeti" Dagalo, declared the formation of a rival government to Sudan's armed forces. Said his group is "building the only realistic future for Sudan".

___________________________

Report from Radio Dabanga
Wednesday, 16 April 2025 22:19 EL FASHER - full copy:

North Darfur: Half a million people flee ‘final catastrophe’ as Zamzam camp ‘obliterated’

Analysis of satellite imagery collected between 11 and 14 April 2025 of the Zamzam IDP Camp shows thermal scarring and damage to structures in an IDP tent location and market within the camp 14 April 2025 

(Source: Yale Humanitarian Research Lab / Planet Labs)

Escalating hostilities and attacks in North Darfur over the past week have effectively obliterated Zamzam camp for internally displaced people, 15 kilometres from the North Darfur capital El Fasher, forcing all of its 500,000+ inhabitants to flee. Untold hundreds have died, thousands injured, in what commentators have termed ‘the final catastrophe’ for the camp.

Between the evening of April 10 and the morning of April 14, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), “using overwhelming military resources”, effectively destroyed Zamzam camp for internally displaced people, multiple sources have confirmed. As reported by Radio Dabanga on April 13, an RSF ground offensive on Zamzam camp forced ‘tens of thousands’ of the inhabitants of Zamzam and Abou Shouk camps to flee to the adjacent North Darfur capital El Fasher.

Zamzam camp was established in 2004 to accommodate thousands of people displaced by the war in Darfur, and especially since the outbreak of the current hostilities two years ago, has seen its population swell to approximately 500,000 people.

Analysis of VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite) Fire layer shows active fire events at central and south Zamzam on the 13 and 14 April (Source: Yale Humanitarian Research Lab / https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov)

While communications from the area are unreliable and sporadic, as connections with mobile networks and even Starlink were unavailable, images and videos that have reached social media paint a horrific picture. Graphic evidence is provided in a report published today by the Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL) at the Yale School of Public Health.

‘There can be no overstating the brutality and destructiveness of the RSF assault on Zamzam…’ 

– Sudan researcher and analyst, Prof Eric Reeves

A member of Team Zamzam provides treatment for a malnourished child

(Archive photo: Prof Eric Reeves @Sudanreeves)

Speaking to Radio Dabanga today, prominent Sudan researcher and analyst, Prof Eric Reeves, who is also cochair of the Team Zamzam project, a group of women who provide counselling to victims of sexual violence in the camp, describes the latest developments as “the final catastrophe”.

Between arson, shelling, and automatic gunfire, the RSF has cleared the camp of most of its more than 500,000 residents, killing many, including nine humanitarian aid workers—medical personnel—from Relief International.

RSF Force Presence, Zamzam IDP Camp, 13 April 2025
(Source: HRL_MMC_088 has been redacted for security reasons)

“The camp population has in the main fled in two directions: to El Fasher (capital of North Darfur), 14 kilometres to the northeast and the Tawila area to the west in the direction of Jebel Marra,” Reeves confirms.

“Since the RSF controls most of the road from Zamzam to Tawila roughly 50 kilometres, many have been forced to flee off-road through the bush. Already weakened by lack of food and water, many—perhaps most—will die,” he laments.

“While El Fasher remains inaccessible, the Tawila area is the site of relief efforts by the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) and Doctors Without Borders/ Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), Reeves says.

Regarding the member of his own Team Zamzam, he says that “while the fate of only one of the counsellors is known (she survived and is in El Fasher), it is highly likely that some of them will make it to the Tawila area, and my effort—in partnership with my colleague of five years, Gaffar Mohammud Saeneen—will be to reconstitute a “Team Zamzam in Exile,” he pledges, “for these women bring with them an extraordinary knowledge of the camp’s population and will be able to conduct highly effective surveys of the people who do manage to reach the Tawila area. They are particularly skilled in responding to those girls and women traumatized by sexual violence, a population that has been steadily rising during the course of the current two-year war.”

“There can be no overstating the brutality and destructiveness of the RSF assault on Zamzam,” Reeves laments. “The camp that has existed since 2004 is no longer, even as it had grown to more than 500,000 people, with some informed estimates of the population much higher.

‘As much killing and destruction as we have already seen—and there are no truly reliable figures—the real dying has only just begun…’ – Sudan researcher and analyst, Prof Eric Reeves

“As much killing and destruction as we have already seen—and there are no truly reliable figures—the real dying has only just begun. Nearly the entire population of Zamzam has fled, and in all directions the threat of RSF violence remains. This creates insecurity of a sort that prevents humanitarians from reaching these scattered people,” Reeves told Radio Dabanga, warning that “tremendous numbers will die either from RSF violence or the lack of food, water, and shelter.”

He concludes that “the death toll will in the end be measured in tens of thousands of innocent civilians, primarily women and children. This, too, amounts to blood on the hands of the RSF.”

Satellite imagery

Today’s HRL report assesses that the RSF “continue to raze Zamzam camp through intentional arson attacks”. Highlighting that “between 11-16 April 2025, a total of 1.719 square kilometres of Zamzam has been destroyed, equivalent to 24.21 standard FIFA football pitches”.

‘Mass atrocities, including mass killing, torture, and conflict-related sexual violence, are likely ongoing in Zamzam…’ – Yale HRL

Through analysis of satellite imagery from 16 April 2025, the Yale HRL report identifies multiple active fires widespread across Zamzam and Ammar Gedid, a community immediately northwest of Zamzam. Analysis of satellite imagery from 14-16 April 2025 shows thermal scarring to 0.536 square kilometres of Zamzam, in addition to the approximately 1.183 square kilometres previously assessed as destroyed between 11-14 April 2025.

Imagery collected on 11 April 2025 shows approximately 200 light technical-type vehicles, most observed mounted with weapons on the back, are seen at the Zamzam IDP Camp (Source: Yale Humanitarian Research Lab / Maxar Technologies / Close-up images enhanced with MGP Pro HD image enhancement)

According to analysis of Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) data, active fires have been present every day in the IDP camp since RSF’s assault — which resulted in the capture of Zamzam — began on 11 April 2025. Yale HRL also assesses the presence of RSF troops equivalent in number to a regular infantry-sized large brigade to a small division force in and around Zamzam.

‘An armed RSF force of this size and proximity poses a significant threat to El Fasher…’ – Yale HRL

This includes approximately 350 vehicles in the eastern region and at least 50 vehicles in other areas of the camp. RSF force strength, based solely on a count of vehicles visible in satellite imagery, has at least doubled between 11 and 16 April 2025. The majority of vehicles visible in satellite imagery appear to have mounted weapons. An armed RSF force of this size and proximity poses a significant threat to El Fasher, which has been under RSF attack and siege since at least May 2024.

Activity consistent with civilian displacement from Zamzam through analysis of satellite imagery from 16 April 2025, corroborating reports reviewed by Yale HRL. Vehicles are positioned around Zamzam’s perimeter, including all four major access points to the camp, likely limiting civilian freedom of movement for those attempting to escape. UN OCHA reported on 15 April 2025 that RSF are “preventing those who remain inside, especially young people, from leaving.”

Yale HRL notes that “while an ongoing communication blackout has limited information from Zamzam, assesses that mass atrocities, including mass killing, torture, and conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV), are likely ongoing in Zamzam.”

Radio Dabanga has approached the RSF for comment on these allegations and reports.

View original: https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/north-darfur-half-a-million-people-flee-final-catastrophe-as-zamzam-camp-obliterated#google_vignette

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Sudan Watch Editor's quick picks from web

BBC - Tues 15 Apr 2025

Sudan 'pathway to peace' talks in London bring together EU, UK …

1 day ago · A high-level international conference is under way in London to find "a pathway to peace" in Sudan, in the words of one of the hosts, the UK's Foreign Secretary David Lammy.

Radio France Internationale - Wed 16 Apr 2025

Rebel rival government in Sudan 'not the answer': UK

The UK on Wednesday denounced a move by Sudan's rebel paramilitary force to install a rival government in the war-torn ...

DW - Tues 15 Apr 2025

EU and UK pledge millions in aid to war-torn Sudan

The EU and its member states pledged €522 million ($590 million) in aid for 2025. United Kingdom announced £120 million (€141 million) in funding for the coming year to deliver food for 650,000 people in Sudan, as the war unleashes widespread famine. 

https://www.dw.com › en › eu-and-uk-pledge-millions-in-aid-to-war-torn-sudan

What's In Blue - Tue 15 Apr 2025

Sudan: Closed Consultations

This afternoon (15 April), Security Council members will convene for closed consultations on Sudan, at the request of Denmark, Slovenia, and the UK (who is the penholder on the file). 

https://www.securitycouncilreport.org/whatsinblue/2025/04/sudan-closed-consultations-6.php

What's In Blue - 

Tue 15 Apr 2025

South Sudan: Briefing and consultations

Tomorrow morning (16 April), the Security Council will hold an open briefing on the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS). Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of UNMISS Nicholas Haysom will brief on the Secretary-General’s latest 90-day report (S/2025/211), which was published on 7 April and covers developments from 16 January to 31 March

https://www.securitycouncilreport.org/whatsinblue/2025/04/south-sudan-briefing-and-consultations-27.php

Independent - Wed 16 Apr 2025 By Edith M Lederer UN envoy urges Security Council to try to prevent renewed civil war in South Sudan The top United Nations official in South Sudan is urging the U.N. Security Council to use its clout to prevent the world’s ...

FT.com - Tue Apr 15 2025
Sudan paramilitaries massacre hundreds of refugees in Darfur
Activists warn of unfolding genocide as UK and others host peace conference in London

Dabanga - Wed 16 Apr 2025

Hemedti: Sudan ‘Government of Peace and Unity’ to issue new currency and IDs

https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/hemedti-sudan-government-of-peace-and-unity-to-issue-new-currency-and-ids

FT.com - Tue 15 Apr 2025 By Tom Fletcher 

Do we have the humanity to meet the Sudan crisis?
After two years of brutal war and famine, a surge in international solidarity is needed

FT.com - 09 Apr 2025 By Abdalla Hamdok

There is no military solution in Sudan
Wars end when political will, diplomacy and collective action force a path towards peace

UNHCR - Tue 15 Apr 2025

High Commissioner's remarks at the Sudan Conference, London

Filippo Grandi, UN High Commissioner for Refugees remarks as delivered 

UNHCR knows Sudan well – we have been present there for 60 years. In fact, I started my UN career inside Sudan. The relentless pursuit of war is gradually extinguishing a resilient and generous nation ...

News24 - Wed 16 Apr 2025

'Ending the violence must be our top priority,' Mbeki tells London talks on Sudan

The Star - Wed 16 Apr 2025

Kenya roots for an all-inclusive dialogue to resolve Sudan crisis

“Kenya decried the undermining of the ongoing initiatives by the African institutions, leading to delays in the resolution of ...

Reuters - Wed 16 April 2025

G7 calls for immediate ceasefire in war in Sudan at two-year mark

Vatican News - Tue 15 Apr 2025

2 years of war in Sudan: World’s worst humanitarian crisis

Caritas and other organizations release a statement challenging the international community to take action because “without a concerted push for peace talks the conflict will only worsen.”

https://www.vaticannews.va/en/world/news/2025-04/two-years-of-conflict-in-sudan-the-worlds-most-devastating-hum.html

Dabanga - Wed 16 Apr 2025

G7 joins int’l chorus for Sudan ceasefire amid North Darfur carnage

ONTARIO/PARIS/BERLIN/ROME/TOKYO/LONDON/WASHINGTON D.C.

The Group of Seven (G7) major industrialised nations has stressed the need for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in Sudan https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/g7-joins-intl-chorus-for-sudan-ceasefire-amid-north-darfur-carnage#google_vignette

The Economist - Wed 16 Apr 2025

A new smash and grab for Red Sea ports

Though each crisis is driven by different, home-grown causes, “the question of who controls the Red Sea and who will ...

BBC Video report (50 minutes) - Tue 15 Apr 2025

Inside Darfur: Siege and Massacres

Following the break-out of Sudan’s civil war in April 2023, a paramilitary group called the Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, ...

Sky News - Wed 16 Apr 2025

Sudan war: Sky's Yoursra Elbagir witnesses the firsthand destruction brought by two years of conflict 

It's exactly two years since Sudan's civil war began, leading to what aid agencies have described as "the world's worst ...

WUSF Public Media - Tue 15 Apr 2025

Photos: Two years of war in Sudan

Sudan's catastrophic civil war is grinding into a third year. A conflict that continues to shatter a country that much of the ...

Dabanga - Wed 16 Apr 2025

Hemedti: Sudan ‘Government of Peace and Unity’ to issue new currency and IDs

The commander of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Lt Gen Mohamed ‘Hemedti’ Dagalo, has proclaimed a parallel Government of Peace and Unity, “a broad civil alliance that represents the true face of Sudan”, that will issue new currency and identity documents. This follows the signing of the founding charter for a parallel Sudanese government in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi on February 22 by the RSF, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North under the leadership of Abdelaziz El Hilu, 22 smaller rebel movements, and political and civil society. However, Sudan’s Foreign Minister, Ali Yusuf counters that “no civilian government can be formed in Sudan before the RSF is defeated”.

https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/hemedti-sudan-government-of-peace-and-unity-to-issue-new-currency-and-ids

DTM Sudan Focused Flash Alert - Thur 17 April 2025

Al Fasher (Zamzam IDP camp), North Darfur

Between 13 and 14 April 2025, DTM field teams initially reported that between 60,000 and 80,000 households were displaced from Zamzam IDP camp. These figures represent approximately 70 per cent of total displaced households previously recorded at Zamzam IDP camp as of 12 March 2025. See original and map here: https://mailchi.mp/iom/dtm-sudan-focused-flash-alert-al-fasher-zamzam-idp-camp-north-darfur-update-007

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