Amnesty details RSF executions, rape in Sudan’s El Fasher
November 25, 2025 (NAIROBI) – Survivors fleeing El Fasher in Sudan’s North Darfur have detailed how the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) executed unarmed men and raped women and girls during their capture of the city, Amnesty International said in a report on Tuesday.
The rights group interviewed 28 survivors who escaped to neighbouring Chad or other towns in Darfur. Their testimonies describe a pattern of deliberate killings, sexual violence and the targeting of civilians fleeing the city, which fell to the paramilitary force on October 26.
“The world must not look away as more details emerge about the RSF’s brutal attack on El Fasher,” said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General. “The RSF were killing people as if they were flies.”
The conflict in Sudan, which erupted in April 2023 between the army and the RSF, has created the world’s largest humanitarian crisis. According to UN and Amnesty data, the war has displaced over 12 million people and killed tens of thousands.
In the new report, survivors described RSF fighters separating men from women at checkpoints and executing those suspected of being soldiers.
One survivor, identified as Khalil, told Amnesty he was captured with a group of 20 men. “They killed 17 of the 20 men I was fleeing with,” he said, adding that none were armed.
Sexual violence and foreign support
The report highlighted harrowing accounts of sexual violence. One woman, Ibtisam, said she was raped by fighters who also assaulted her 14-year-old daughter. The girl later died after their arrival in the town of Tawila, her mother said.
Another survivor, Khaltoum, described being held at a makeshift shelter in the Zamzam displacement camp, where she was raped multiple times, while 10 other women selected by fighters were also assaulted.
Amnesty explicitly accused the United Arab Emirates of facilitating the atrocities through its support of the paramilitary group.
“These atrocities were facilitated by the United Arab Emirates’ support for the RSF,” Callamard said, calling on the UN Security Council to demand the UAE disengage and to extend the arms embargo to the entire country.
The UAE has previously denied supplying arms to the RSF, asserting its role in Sudan is focused on humanitarian aid.
Civilians trapped
An estimated 260,000 civilians were trapped in El Fasher on the day it fell, according to Amnesty.
Witnesses recounted seeing “hundreds of dead bodies” on the streets. In one incident described in the report, RSF fighters executed three elderly patients who had been evacuated from a hospital because they were too old to climb into a transport truck.
The captors also reportedly demanded ransoms for hostages. One survivor said his family was ordered to pay over 20 million Sudanese pounds (approximately $8,880) for his release.
Amnesty urged international actors, including the United States, Britain, Russia, China and the African Union, to exert diplomatic pressure on the RSF leadership to halt attacks on civilians.