Amnesty International released a detailed report on 30 June 2026 concluding that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a militia group fighting Sudan's government, committed war crimes and attempted to cleanse ethnic groups from the city of El Fasher in Sudan's Darfur region. The report draws on survivor accounts, satellite images, and information from open sources to document what happened during the RSF's takeover of the city.

Why El Fasher Matters

El Fasher is the capital of North Darfur State and was one of the last major cities that the RSF did not control when Sudan's civil war started in April 2023. The city became a refuge for about one to two million people displaced by fighting elsewhere in Darfur, alongside its own population. The RSF took control of parts of the city in 26 October 2025, ending more than a year of siege-like conditions.

What the Report Found

Amnesty investigators found evidence that RSF fighters deliberately killed civilians, used sexual violence as a weapon, and destroyed buildings that should be protected under international law — mosques, schools, and hospitals. Survivors interviewed by Amnesty, including people who escaped in November 2025, described killings that targeted specific groups rather than happening randomly. The victims were selected based on their ethnic identity, not because they were soldiers.

This ethnic targeting is why Amnesty concluded the RSF was carrying out ethnic cleansing. That means using violence and intimidation to force one ethnic group out of an area. The report shows the RSF attacked people because of who they were, not what they were doing.

The violence extended beyond El Fasher itself. In December 2025, Amnesty documented RSF attacks on a large camp for displaced people, where fighters killed civilians and destroyed supplies. Earlier, in November 2025, at least 40 people were killed in a drone strike near El Fasher. These incidents are part of a larger pattern of violence, not isolated events.

Why It Matters in International Law

Under international criminal law, war crimes are serious violations committed during armed conflict. When attacks target civilians, are widespread, and are carried out deliberately, they can be called crimes against humanity — the most severe charge short of genocide. Ethnic cleansing is not technically a separate international crime, but it serves as evidence that one of these more serious crimes has occurred.

Sudan signed an international treaty recognizing the International Criminal Court's authority, but previous investigations into violence in Darfur during Sudan's earlier conflict have gone slowly without full cooperation from Sudan's government. The RSF's leaders have connections to militias involved in earlier Darfur violence, which prosecutors would use to show a pattern over time.

International action to stop the RSF faces real obstacles. The UN Security Council, which can authorize enforcement, is divided because major powers have different interests in Sudan. Regional organizations have brokered ceasefires that neither side has kept. Humanitarian groups struggle to get into North Darfur to help civilians and see what is happening.

Amnesty's report does not carry the weight of a court judgment, but it serves an important purpose: it creates a detailed record of what happened, names the military units responsible, and increases pressure on countries that supply or support the RSF. Whether that pressure will actually change anything is unclear. What is certain is that anyone claiming the international community did not know what was happening in El Fasher can no longer make that claim.