Category World News

Since the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) seize control of the western Sudanese city of el-Fasher, the state capital, it is feared that thousands of people have been murdered.

El-Fasher fell on Sunday after an 18-month RSF siege that halted access to food and supplies for the tens of thousands of trapped insiders for hours.

According to the UN, Sudan has been the site of an unrest for the past two and a half years, which has resulted in an estimated 40 000 deaths and the displacement of 12 million people.

What are our current knowledge’s regarding the alleged massacres in El-Fasher?

What transpired during El-Fasher?

El-Fasher was taken over by the RSF on Sunday, taking the SAF’s final remaining positions in the Darfur region. By Wednesday, reportedly, 2, 000 people had already been killed.

As a result of the RSF’s 56 kilometers (35 miles) of barriers, which blocked access to food and medicine and blocked escape routes, around 1.2 million people in the city had been under siege for 18 months and had been forced to eat animal feed.

RSF fighters were seen torturing and executing people in videos that were shared online and verified by Al Jazeera’s Sanad Verification team. In the past, RSF members have frequently spoken about themselves abusing others.

Sudanese medical and human rights organizations claimed that the RSF was abusing hospitals, detaining people, and carrying out mass murders.

According to the UN Human Rights Office, the RSF’s actions included “indications of ethnic motivations for killings,” including summary executions of people fleeing.

Using satellite imagery and remote sensing data, a Yale Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL) analysis appeared to confirm reports of widespread murders.

Human body clusters and bloody pools are signs of human existence, according to HRL. Before the RSF invaded, the report noted that the clusters and discoloration weren’t present in the images.

More than 26 000 people have fled El-Fasher in just two days, most of them on foot, heading toward Tawila, which is 43 kilometers west, according to the UN. The International Organization for Migration estimates that 177 000 civilians are still ensconced in El-Fasher.

Meanwhile, atrocities have been reported in Bara, in the RSF’s neighboring North Kordofan state, where it has reportedly attacked civilians and humanitarian workers since it announced it had taken control of the state on October 25.

Five Sudanese volunteers with the organization were killed in Bara, according to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, and three more are still missing.

The RSF is moving quickly to take control of the strategic city of El-Obeid, which is located just outside Bara.

El-Fasher and El-Obeid are important, but where are they?

Both significant cities in western Sudan have turned into important battlegrounds.

The SAF is attempting to occupy RSF territory from its strongholds in the east, but the RSF is already deeply rooted in the west and wants to completely rule the area.

El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, was the last major city to remain unaffected by the RSF, up until Sunday. With its seizure this week, the nation is now effectively split between an RSF-controlled west and an east-dominated SAF.

The Sudanese army is stationed in eastern, central, and northern strongholds while the RSF has established a parallel government throughout Darfur.

El-Obeid, which borders Darfur and the Kordofan region and serves as a strategic link between Darfur and Khartoum, is the oil-rich capital of North Kordofan state.

According to analysts, SAF currently controls El-Obeid, but the RSF is attempting to close in, which would mean sacrificing SAF’s crucial buffer between its Khartoum base and RSF territory.

The RSF announced on October 25 that it had retaken Bara, which SAF had only recently taken from it in September, for 59 kilometers (37 miles). &nbsp,

According to Mercy Corps, the RSF had launched attacks on El-Obeid from Bara in an effort to subdue it, and it is now moving closer to El-Obeid, where at least 137, 000 people were already sheltering.

What have the parties’ statements regarding the el-Fasher’s seizure been?

General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the SAF’s commander and de facto leader, announced on Monday that his troops had withdrawn from El-Fasher to spare the populace “the systemic destruction and the systematic killing of civilians” by the RSF.

However, he continued, “We are determined to avenge what occurred to our people in El-Fasher.”

Foreign Minister Hussein Al-Amin blasted the international community on Wednesday for failing to intervene against the RSF.

According to Mohammed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo, the RSF’s leader, said on Wednesday that any individuals found guilty of crimes against civilians would be held accountable.

The RSF are who?

The paramilitary group’s original name was “Janjaweed,” nomadic tribal armed groups that had fought for Omar al-Bashir’s long-serving government during the 2003 Darfur war, and later gained acclaim for their impunity.

Some rights groups labeled the Janjaweed’s killings and displacement of 2.5 million people as genocide against the rebelling sedentary tribes.

Al-Bashir designated the Janjaweed as the RSF, which had roughly 100 000 members in 2013. Then, a law passed in 2017 strengthened its position as an independent security force.

During the 2019 popular uprising, the RSF helped to overthrow al-Bashir. Then, in order to end the civilian-military transition government, it joined forces with SAF in 2021 to overthrow civilian prime minister Abdalla Hamdok.

What caused the conflict in Sudan to begin?

However, Hemedti and al-Burhan became tense over when the SAF and the RSF would merge, and which organization would take the lead, leading to the outbreak of war on April 15, 2023.

The main issue is who will take the national leadership, with SAF requesting that the RSF fully enlist in its ranks and organizational structure.

Both sides have been accused of carrying out atrocities in the conflict by human rights groups.

The US Department of State announced in January that Darfur was the site of a genocide committed by the RSF and its allies.

What is in question?

Most importantly, there are thousands of lives.

Sudanese rights organizations have warned that civilians, particularly those from “non-Arab” tribes, would be seriously impacted if an RSF took control of El-Fasher.

According to Hiba Morgan of Al Jazeera, people who fled El-Fasher reported hearing about the RSF executing people based on ethnicity.

Nearly 500 people have reportedly died in the Saudi Hospital, where patients, health workers, and fugitives were sheltering.

There are numerous reports of sexual violence against women, and the RSF has reportedly detained hundreds of others.

Any location the RSF seizes is likely to experience more massacres, according to analysts.

El-Fasher’s seizure gives the RSF complete control over the entire Darfur region, which is strategically located along Sudan’s borders along with Libya and South Sudan.

The conflict was partially driven by fighting for Sudan’s gold, according to an Italian Institute for International Political Studies (ISPI) report from 2024.

What steps have been taken to put an end to the conflict?

There haven’t been significant positive outcomes from the various peace talks that Saudi Arabia, the United States, and the African Union have initiated.

More recently, the US charted a strategy that Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the UAE called the “Quad” and called for the end of the fighting.

Their plan for a three-month humanitarian truce would allow aid to enter, which would eventually lead to a permanent ceasefire. Additionally, it demanded a nine-month transition to civilian rule.

Al-Burhan initially rebuffed this agreement, pleading for the RSF to disband. However, he showed an openness to it when he first met Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi on October 15.

Indirect negotiations between SAF and RSF were reported last week in Washington, DC, with the end of October meeting as a target for further discussions.

In El-Fasher’s Saudi Hospital, fighters from Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces recorded themselves carrying out an execution while surrounded by body parts. It’s the most recent instance of RSF paramilitaries filming their own actions, according to Hiba Morgan.

When it was revealed that his hometown of El-Fasher, Mohammed Zakaria, had fallen under the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, he had not slept in two days.

The paramilitary seized the North Darfur governor’s office on Friday, edging closer to taking control of the entire city, as the Sudanese video journalist and human rights activist had been monitoring the deteriorating situation from Kampala, Uganda.

He was afraid of the worst.

The “nightmare” scenario is very personal to Zakaria. He discovered footage posted on Facebook by RSF soldiers standing over dead bodies after the city’s fall through social media. He identified three of his uncles as deceased.

He claimed that they are killing them to celebrate.

He claimed a chilling message about his potential fate had been added to the profile photo of another uncle, who was an RSF fighter.

He said, “We don’t know where he is, but we’re terrified of him.”

El-Fasher’s demise

After an 18-month siege, the Sudanese army confirmed its withdrawal from what had been its final outpost in the Darfur region, which had been held there for months by the determined fighters there. The city fell to the RSF on Sunday.

El-Fasher’s capture marks a significant turning point for Sudan’s civil war, giving the paramilitary complete control over all five state capitals there.

One of the longest urban sieges ever to occur in modern warfare took place in El-Fasher. After being driven out of Khartoum by the army in March, the RSF began encircling it in May 2024 and mounted its assaults on it even more.

International observers have labeled the events that followed its fall as an unprecedented massacre, with satellite imagery and social media footage indicating widespread atrocities committed by RSF fighters, allegedly along ethnic lines.

“This has been the subject of conversation for more than a year. Zakaria broke his voice, telling Al Jazeera, “We knew this would happen.”

Former UN Security Council expert on Sudan, Sarra Majdoub, claimed that Sudan’s observers had warned about the city’s fall for months and that other significant urban areas in Darfur had been captured by the RSF, but “they surprisingly held on for a really long time.”

People with loved ones are anxious and uncertain because of a communications blackout, which has almost stopped communication with the city.

When the city fell, an estimated 260 000 civilians remained trapped in the city, half of whom were children.

In el-Fasher, according to the Sudan Doctors Network, a “heinous massacre” was carried out, while 2, 000 people were executed by the Joint Forces, a coalition of armed rebel groups affiliated with the Sudanese army. 1, 350 deaths were documented by the UN, according to the report.

reports of atrocities

The Humanitarian Research Lab at Yale School of Public Health, which tracks the conflict in Sudan, reported on Tuesday that satellite imagery revealed evidence of widespread mass killings, including what appear to be bloody pools and corpse clusters.

The killings, according to executive director of the Humanitarian Research Lab, were “only comparable to Rwanda-style killings,” according to Nathaniel Raymond, who made the remarks during a press briefing on Tuesday.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk issued a warning about the possibility of “large-scale, ethnically motivated attacks and atrocities” as of October 2, urging immediate action to stop them.

Following the fall of the city, Al Jazeera’s Sanad fact-checking agency found numerous instances of RSF fighters carrying out summary civilian executions. An RSF commander boasted that he had killed 2, 000 people in one video.

The RSF stated in a statement on Monday that it was “protecting civilians.”

According to Majdoub, one of the “most disturbing elements” of the violence was the voyeuristic nature of the videos that RSF fighters recorded.

She recalled that fighters who had previously filmed abuses in locations like El-Geneina in West Darfur and Gezira state had “been there before, and their violence is more exaggerated.”

Finding videos on social media, Zakaria said, “finding someone who is a friend, a distant relative, an uncle, surrounded by RSF fighters, and it is very painful.”

“This is a reality for many people right now.”

He is still unable to locate numerous friends and family members.

Dr. Mudathir Ibrahim Suleiman, the medical director of Saudi Hospital, was one of the people Zakaria last spoke to shortly before the RSF stormed the city.

Zakaria said, “He told me he would leave with a group of doctors.” We discovered that some doctors had reached Tawila, but Dr. Mudathir is not one of them, so I haven’t heard anything until now.

460 people were killed in a massacre at the Saudi Hospital, according to Minni Minnawi, the governor of Darfur. Additionally, he uploaded video to X that depicts a quick execution.

Residents who spoke to Al Jazeera about daily bombardments and frequent drone strikes in the weeks leading up to the final offensive spoke to Al Jazeera. As shelling began at dawn, people dug trenches to conceal themselves, sometimes staying underground for hours.

More than 26, 000 people have fled the fighting since Sunday, according to the UN migration agency, either by emigrants trying to get to Tawila, which is 70 kilometers (43 miles) west or by foot.

Genocide is occurring right now.

Zakaria fled El-Fasher in June 2024 while the country was under siege, making the risky journey through South Sudan to Uganda after his house was shelled and he witnessed a deadly attack close to his grandfather’s house, where seven people, including women and children, were killed.

He said, “It was the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make in my life, to leave my city.”

He stayed in Kampala, monitoring the violence, and making human rights claims.

El-Fasher claimed that while humanitarian organizations were based in Tawila, which was only three hours by car from there, they had been requesting assistance for more than 17 months.

The time has come for action to end. He claimed that there is currently a genocide.

Zakaria claims that in El-Fasher, more than 100 people are still missing.

At least nine people have been hurt in a children’s hospital in southern Ukraine as a result of a Russian drone attack, according to authorities.

Russian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the Russian attack on the medical facility in Kherson as a “deliberate” attack that shows Moscow doesn’t want peace to leave four children injured.

They “could not have been unaware where they were striking,” he said. Zelenskyy claimed that this was a deliberate Russian attack, specifically against children, against doctors, and against fundamental social guarantees, against all.

The Ukrainian prime minister claims that the hospital had about 100 people inside at the time of the attack. An eight-year-old boy was the youngest of the injured.

Moscow hasn’t made any comments on the strike.

Russian authorities reported earlier on Wednesday that Ukraine had targeted Russian energy infrastructure and slowed down air traffic by sending several drones into Moscow for the third night in a row.

A total of 100 Ukrainian drones were destroyed by Russian air defense units overnight, according to the Russian defense ministry’s statement on Telegram, six of which were over the Moscow region and the remaining over 11 regions and the Crimean peninsula.

The Mariysky refinery in the Mari El region, another in the Ulyanovsk region, and a gas plant in the town of Budyonnovsk in the southern Stavropol region were all hit by Ukraine’s General Staff, according to a Telegram statement from the country’s general staff.

Russian aviation watchdog Rosaviatsiya reported that several airports in Moscow and nearby were shut down at some point during the night for safety reasons.

In recent months, Kyiv has launched long-range drone strikes targeting Moscow and other Russian cities, claiming that the aim is to damage both military and industrial assets.

In addition, the Ukrainian Energy Ministry reported energy strikes on the Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk, and Donetsk regions’ energy systems. Nearly 27 000 households in the southern Odesa region of Ukraine were without electricity overnight, according to the power company DTEK.

Separately, Kyiv claimed that its security services had detained a former military officer from an undisclosed European nation and that the suspect was suspected of spying on Russia’s Ukrainian army.

Second nuclear test

Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, reported on Wednesday that Moscow had successfully tested a nuclear-capable, nuclear-powered underwater drone, and that it had successfully completed a second nuclear weapons system test.

Putin made the remarks in televised remarks while visiting a military hospital in Ukraine where Russian soldiers were being treated for injuries by Russian soldiers wounded in Ukraine. “Yesterday, another test was conducted for another prospective system, … Poseidon,” also equipped with a nuclear power unit.

The drone torpedo, which can travel at speeds faster than conventional submarines and reach any continent in the world, was denied by the Russian leader, who claimed there was “no way to intercept” it.

Putin watched a recent test of the Burevestnik cruise missile, which he claimed had an “unlimited range,” on Sunday.

Donald Trump, the president of the US, criticized that exercise and demanded that Putin put the focus on averting the end of Ukraine.

Trump cancelled a summit with Putin in Budapest last week because he believed Putin would not agree to compromise and put an end to the conflict.

After a Russian reconnaissance aircraft was intercepted by Polish Air Force fighter jets over the Baltic Sea, tensions with Russia were also simmering in Europe.

The Ilyushin IL-20 aircraft, according to the nation’s armed forces, was discovered in international airspace on Tuesday with its transponder off and no flight plan. Two Polish MiG-29 fighter jets flew it away and escorted it away.

According to the military, Poland’s airspace was not impacted by the incident.

One of Ukraine’s closest political and military allies, the EU and NATO member state serves as a key logistics hub for Western military assistance to Kyiv.