The civil war in Sudan has entered a terrifying new phase following the capture of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The RSF announced its takeover of the Sudanese Armed Forces’ (SAF) last major base in the city on October 26, 2025, effectively ending an 18-month siege. This military victory for the RSF is seen by analysts as a key turning point, granting them control over all five state capitals in Darfur and raising the grave prospect of the country’s de facto partition. However, the victory was immediately overshadowed by reports of atrocities on a scale unseen since the war began in April 2023.
The dire warnings from humanitarian groups in the preceding months have materialized into a bloody reality. Reports of ethnically motivated mass killings began to surface almost immediately after the RSF forces entered the city, focusing on the indigenous non-Arab communities, particularly the Fur, Zaghawa, and Berti people. The UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) voiced alarm on October 27, 2025, noting it was receiving “multiple, alarming reports” of civilians being executed and detained. In a later statement on October 31, 2025, OHCHR spokesperson Seif Magango stated the office had received “horrendous accounts of summary executions, mass killings, rapes, attacks against humanitarian workers, looting, abductions and forced displacement.”
Hospital Massacres and Ethnic Cleansing
One of the most horrifying accounts came from the Saudi Maternity Hospital. The Sudan Doctors Network, a medical monitoring group, reported a massacre that the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates killed over 460 patients and their companions. In a post on October 29, 2025, the Sudan Doctors Network unequivocally stated that the RSF “cold-bloodedly killed everyone they found inside the Saudi hospital, including patients, their companions, and anyone else present in the wards.” Attacks on medical personnel were also reported, with six health workers allegedly abducted.
The pattern of violence strongly suggests a campaign of ethnic targeting. The Yale Humanitarian Research Lab, tracking the conflict via open-source intelligence and satellite imagery, released a report on October 28, 2025, warning that El Fasher “appears to be in a systematic and intentional process of ethnic cleansing of Fur, Zaghawa, and Berti indigenous non-Arab Communities through forced displacement and summary execution.” The lab further corroborated claims of mass killings by documenting large “clusters” of apparent white objects and “reddish discoloration on the ground” in satellite imagery near the hospital and other sites.
The surge in violence has triggered a new wave of mass displacement. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported that more than 36,000 people fled El Fasher since the RSF’s incursion, largely on foot, with many seeking refuge in the already overwhelmed displacement camps in nearby Tawila. They join the more than 14 million people already displaced across Sudan, which is battling the largest humanitarian crisis on record. The new arrivals, many of whom are malnourished, describe dodging gunmen on their arduous journeys.
As the international community grapples with the scale of the disaster, the lack of effective diplomatic action is drawing harsh criticism. While the UN Security Council held briefings in late October, and the UK announced an additional £5 million in aid on November 1, 2025, a sustained political solution remains elusive. The SAF and RSF continue to reject comprehensive peace efforts, while the flow of external support to the warring parties risks deepening the conflict, leaving the civilians of Darfur at the mercy of a protracted and brutal war.
