Hundreds of civilians and unarmed fighters may have been executed following the Rapid Support Forces’ (RSF) capture of Al-Fashir, the last Sudanese army stronghold in Sudan’s Darfur region, according to eyewitness accounts and the UN human rights office.
Survivors told Reuters that fighters on camels rounded up men near the city, separated them from women and children, and opened fire, reportedly shouting racial slurs.
One survivor, Alkheir Ismail, said he escaped only because one of the captors recognised him from school. Reuters verified several videos showing men in RSF uniforms shooting unarmed captives and bodies lying in clusters.
The UN said on Friday, 31 October that hundreds may have been killed in the city and surrounding areas, describing testimonies of mass executions, gang rapes and other atrocities.
The RSF has denied committing abuses, calling reports “media exaggerations” and blaming the Sudanese army for spreading misinformation.
Aid agencies report tens of thousands fleeing on foot to nearby Tawila, many without food or water.
Activists and analysts warned that the killings appeared ethnically targeted, echoing earlier atrocities committed by RSF predecessors, the Janjaweed militias, during the Darfur conflict of the early 2000s.
The UN said some 260,000 civilians had been trapped in Al-Fashir before its fall, with many still unaccounted for.
The International Criminal Court is investigating possible war crimes linked to the RSF’s actions.
[Image: https://theowp.org/sudan-from-the-2021-coup-to-a-nationwide-war/]