SUDAN’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) fighters are committing war crimes in the Darfur town of el-Fasher, the rights group Amnesty International has alleged in a new report.
The report was published on Tuesday, just hours after the RSF declared that it would immediately enter into a three-month humanitarian truce “in response to international efforts” led by United States President Donald Trump.
Sudan plunged into chaos in April 2023 when a power struggle between the military and the RSF exploded into open fighting in the capital, Khartoum, and elsewhere in the country.
In its latest report, Amnesty said it had collected testimonies from 28 survivors describing atrocities in el-Fasher ranging from the summary execution of unarmed men to the rape of girls and women.
“This persistent, widespread violence against civilians constitutes war crimes and may also constitute other crimes under international law,” Amnesty chief Agnes Callamard said.
“All those responsible must be held accountable for their actions.”
The war in the Darfur region pits the regular forces of General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan against the RSF, headed by his former right-hand man and ally, Mohamed Daglo, since April 2023.
At the end of October, the RSF seized el-Fasher, the last major city in the vast western region of Darfur that had remained outside their control.
Last week, United Nations aid chief Tom Fletcher had said that el-Fasher has been transformed into a “crime scene” and said that those who commit these crimes must “face justice”.
Tuesday’s Amnesty report cites one survivor from el-Fasher who said she and her 14-year-old daughter were raped by RSF fighters as they fled the city.
Her daughter became very ill when they reached the refugee town of Tawila, and died in a clinic there, the woman told the rights group.
Another survivor who fled el-Fasher in late October said he witnessed people being shot by RSF forces while trying to flee.
“The RSF were killing people as if they were flies. It was a massacre. None of the people killed that I have seen were armed soldiers.”
Mediation has so far failed to end the fighting as both sides try to secure military gains before talks are held.
On Sunday, Burhan rejected a US truce proposal from the Quad group of mediators as the “worst yet” and unacceptable.
The Quad group comprises the United States, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. Burhan claimed that the presence of the UAE – which he accused of supporting the RSF – in the Quad meant that the proposals could not be seen as unbiased.
The UAE has consistently denied any role in the war in Sudan, and on Monday, it accused Burhan of “consistently obstructive behaviour”.