El-Fasher: a city abandoned to horror

Early Sunday morning, the world awoke to reports of a major assault by Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur. The city, besieged for more than 500 days, had already been enduring a humanitarian catastrophe under an archaic tactic of warfare — siege and starvation. Food and medical supplies were cut off, residents were trapped, and humanitarian organizations documented mass starvation and disease outbreaks. For months, El-Fasher has been a city slowly starved in real time.

Within hours of the assault, videos began circulating online showing RSF fighters celebrating outside the Sudanese army’s 6th Infantry Division headquarters in El-fasher. The clips showed armed RSF soldiers cheering, waving their weapons, and declaring victory. This apparent takeover immediately raised fears for civilians, given the RSF’s history of looting, arbitrary killings, and ethnic violence across Darfur.

By Monday, multiple sources confirmed that El-Fasher had effectively fallen under RSF control. General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan the leader of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the de facto leader of Sudan, acknowledged the army’s retreat. Soon after, distressing videos — some unverified — surfaced on social media, reportedly showing RSF fighters targeting civilians. In one clip, men were seen being rounded up by armed RSF personnel. A second, even more harrowing video appeared to show detainees being executed at close range. In a third, fighters were filmed chasing what seemed to be unarmed civilians through semi-urban terrain consistent with Darfur’s geography.

Open-source analysis has provided further evidence of atrocities. According to the Yale School of Public Health’s Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL), satellite imagery collected on 27 October 2025 shows evidence consistent with mass killings by RSF forces in El-fasher. The HRL report identified RSF vehicles positioned in tactical formations typical of house-to-house clearance operations. The imagery revealed objects resembling human bodies near these vehicles, alongside multiple areas of reddish soil discoloration. Additional evidence suggested bodies near the city’s berm — corroborating reports of “executions and civilians killed while attempting to flee.”

As news of the RSF assault spread, the international community, including the United Nations and the United States, issued calls to protect civilians. The urgency of protection is no longer up for debate — the challenge now is determining how to put it into action in a context marked by international inaction. For more than two years, the world has failed to effectively confront the crisis in Sudan. Understanding this failure requires examining the role of international actors, many of whom have worsened the conflict by aiding and abetting the warring factions rather than addressing the devastating toll the crisis has taken on Sudanese civilians.

While publicly claiming to deliver humanitarian aid, the UAE’s operations appeared to have doubled as a covert military supply network

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has been implicated as a major financier of the RSF. Though Abu Dhabi denies these allegations, mounting evidence tells a different story. In September last year, The New York Times published an investigation revealing that the UAE has secretly fueled Sudan’s civil war while “publicly presenting itself” as “a humanitarian ally.”

Operating from a base in Amdjarass, Chad, officially described as a humanitarian field hospital, the UAE allegedly used the site to launch Chinese-made Wing Loong-2 drones and smuggle weapons to the RSF. Satellite images and diplomatic reports indicated that the facility, branded with the UAE Red Crescent logo, contained drone control centers and munitions storage. While publicly claiming to deliver humanitarian aid, the UAE’s operations appeared to have doubled as a covert military supply network. Evidence also suggestsed that Emirati cargo planes and drones have provided battlefield intelligence and weapons.

Earlier this year, Sudan filed a case against the UAE at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), alleging violations of the Genocide Convention for atrocities committed against the ethnic group in West Darfur. Sudan accused the UAE of supporting or being complicit with armed groups — including the RSF — responsible for killings, ethnic cleansing, forced displacement, and sexual violence. Sudan requested provisional measures to prevent further genocide and compel the UAE to report on its actions. However, because the UAE had made a reservation upon joining the Convention in 2005 rejecting the Court’s jurisdiction, the ICJ found that it lacked authority to proceed. The judges voted 14–2 against provisional measures and 9–7 in favor of striking the case from the General List.

The UAE is not alone. Other international actors have also been linked to the RSF’s campaign. A joint investigation by Bellingcat, an independent investigative journalism collective based in Amsterdam, and Kenya’s Daily Nation found crates of ammunition with Kenyan labels in “alleged RSF depot close to the Sudanese capital Khartoum.”

Recently, when asked about Kenya’s position on the Sudanese conflict, President William Ruto stated that the rival generals — RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo and SAF chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan — are “cut from the same cloth,” both being “products of an overthrow of a government set up by the people of Sudan.” He added, “Kenya does not agree with the notion that one is better than the other. They are all the same. They are committing atrocities.”

AU’s inaction in the face of mass atrocities, from Tigray to eastern Congo and now Sudan, reveals a pattern of paralysis

Equally disturbing is the role of foreign mercenaries. Numerous reports indicated that mercenary fighters have been hired to support RSF operations, driven by profit rather than ideology. “War is a business,” one mercenary told The Guardian. According to the report, these fighters were not only involved in combat but also in training RSF recruits — including children. Some admitted to teaching minors how to handle assault rifles, machine guns, and RPGs, effectively preparing them to “go and get killed.” Such revelations underscore how Sudan’s war has become a lucrative transnational enterprise, turning Darfur’s agony into a theater of war profiteering.

Largely absent from these discussions is the African Union (AU), which was established to prevent precisely this kind of continental tragedy. Yet the AU’s inaction in the face of mass atrocities, from Tigray to eastern Congo and now Sudan, reveals a pattern of paralysis. Its failure to protect civilians and hold involved actors accountable points to deep institutional dysfunction.

The AU’s peace and security architecture was designed to respond to crises like El-fasher. Instead, its response has been limited to statements of “concern” while civilians die by scale. The organization’s inability, or unwillingness, to act undermines its founding mandate: “African solutions to African problems.” For the people of Sudan, and many other in the continent that promise has become an empty slogan.

The RSF’s capture of El-fasher marks a dangerous turning point in Sudan’s conflict. The fate of tens of thousands of civilians now lies in the hands of a violent militia. Governments and institutions that were built to protect civilian lives have instead helped fuel this catastrophe — through silence, complicity, or even direct material support to the perpetrators.

Sudan now stands as one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. It remains a stain on the conscience of the African Union, and the international community, all of whom have failed to uphold the very laws and principles they claim to defend. Meanwhile, those backing the RSF’s brutality continue to enjoy impunity.

What the people of El-Fasher, and Sudan more broadly, need is not another round of statements or condemnations, but concrete action: real measures to open humanitarian access, prevent further atrocities, and hold accountable those enabling the RSF’s campaign of violence. The cost of inaction is unbearable — and it is being paid in Sudanese lives.