Massacre Captured

Satellite imagery revealed bloodstains so large they could be seen from space following the capture of El Fasher, Sudan, by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group.

Context

Sudan's civil war began in April 2023 when the RSF and the country's military government turned on each other after previously being allied. The conflict started in and around the capital, Khartoum, before spreading across the entire country. The RSF has received weapons and support from the United Arab Emirates, while the Sudanese military has received weapons from Iran and Turkey. El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, had been the last remaining government-controlled city in the region and held out against an RSF siege for over 500 days before falling over the weekend. The bulk of RSF fighters come from ethnic groups that identify as Arab, while forces that had fought alongside the military in El Fasher are from tribes that identify as African.

Evidence of Atrocities

Analysis of satellite imagery by the Yale School of Public Health's Humanitarian Research Lab found images consistent with military vehicles near clusters of bodies and reddish ground discoloration large enough to be visible from space.

Videos that emerged from the city, some filmed and posted by RSF fighters themselves, showed them shooting civilians at close range. RSF Brigadier General Al-Fateh Abdullah Idris boasted in a video that he may have killed more than 2,000 people. The Washington Post and the Centre for Information Resilience – a nonprofit organization dedicated to exposing human rights abuses – verified another video in which Abdullah says, "I will never have mercy on you… Our job is only killing" after he shot a wounded man pleading for his life.

Humanitarian Crisis

The World Health Organization reported that 460 patients and their companions were killed at Saudi Maternity Hospital in El Fasher. Tens of thousands of civilians fled the city, with many arriving in nearby Tawila "dehydrated, injured and traumatized," according to the UN aid coordination office.

Aid workers reported that men and teenage boys were being separated from their families and beaten, tortured, or killed. The UN Human Rights Office said it received "multiple, alarming reports" that RSF forces were "carrying out atrocities, including summary executions."

International Response

US diplomats met with officials from both the RSF and Sudan's military on Thursday and Friday to persuade them to agree to a three-month ceasefire, but both sides rejected the ceasefire. 

On Sunday, the US Senior Adviser for Arab and African Affairs posted on social media that "the RSF must act now to protect civilians and prevent further suffering." The RSF released a statement claiming it was engaged in operations "aiming to eliminate the last of the terrorists and mercenaries' strongholds" while expressing "utmost commitment to protecting civilians."