Sudan’s RSF targeted and killed people with disabilities in El Fasher, HRW says
February 24, 2026 (EL FASHER) – The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) targeted and killed people with disabilities during and after the takeover of North Darfur’s capital El Fasher, Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday.
The rights group said the paramilitary force singled out individuals based on their disabilities, accusing those with physical impairments of being injured combatants and mocking others as “insane” or “incomplete.”
The RSF took control of El Fasher on October 26, 2025, following an 18-month siege. Human Rights Watch (HRW) interviewed 22 survivors and witnesses between December and February, documenting accounts of summary executions, torture and extortion.
“The Rapid Support Forces treated people with disabilities as suspects, burdens, or expendable,” said Emina Ćerimović, associate disability rights director at Human Rights Watch.
“We heard how they accused some victims, particularly those missing a limb, of being injured fighters and summarily executed them.”
One 33-year-old survivor who uses crutches told HRW that RSF fighters executed more than 10 people, most with physical disabilities, in front of a group of approximately 50 fleeing civilians. He said he was detained for 4 days and released only after his family paid approximately $8,830 in ransom.
Other witnesses described the killing of a young man with Down syndrome, a blind child, and a 14-year-old boy whose wheelchair was taken by fighters before he was executed because he was “slowing other people down.”
The report also noted that RSF fighters used derogatory ethnic slurs against disabled survivors from non-Arab ethnic groups, accusing them of supporting the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF).
International humanitarian law prohibits the targeting of civilians, including those with disabilities. HRW stated that these acts constitute war crimes and may amount to crimes against humanity if committed as part of a widespread attack.
The rights group called on the United Nations Security Council to sanction RSF leadership and urged the United Arab Emirates to end its support for the paramilitary group. It also recommended deploying a civilian protection mission to the region.
The conflict in Sudan, which began in April 2023 between the RSF and the SAF, has triggered one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, displacing millions and causing widespread civilian casualties.