GENEVA: The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have committed numerous crimes against humanity in Sudan’s civil war, in particular in their siege of El-Fasher in western Darfur, UN investigators said Friday.
The United Nations’ fact-finding mission for Sudan determined in a new report that the RSF had “committed crimes against humanity, notably murder, torture, forced displacement, persecution on ethnic grounds, and other inhumane acts.”
It also found evidence of war crimes by both sides in the conflict between the regular army and the RSF, which has killed tens of thousands of people since it broke out in April 2023.
“Our findings leave no room for doubt: civilians are paying the highest price in this war,” mission chief Mohamed Chande Othman said in a statement.
“Both sides have deliberately targeted civilians through attacks, summary executions, arbitrary detention, torture, and inhuman treatment in detention facilities, including denial of food, sanitation, and medical care,” he said.
“These are not accidental tragedies but deliberate strategies amounting to war crimes.”
While faulting both sides in the brutal conflict, the investigators highlighted in particular the paramilitary force’s brutality in El-Fasher, which it has besieged since May 2024.
“RSF, during the siege of El-Fasher and surrounding areas, committed myriad crimes against humanity, including murder, torture, enslavement, rape, sexual slavery, sexual violence,” the statement said, also pointing to “forced displacement and persecution on ethnic, gender and political grounds.”
“The RSF and its allies used starvation as a method of warfare and deprived civilians of objects indispensable to their survival, including food, medicine and relief supplies — which may amount to the crime against humanity of extermination,” it added.
The fact-finding mission demanded international action to bring perpetrators of such crimes to justice.
“Accountability is not optional — it is a legal and moral imperative to protect civilians and prevent further atrocities,” mission member Mona Rishmawi said in the statement.
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