Amnesty International released a comprehensive report on 30 June 2026 documenting that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) committed crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing during their campaign to capture El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur State and the last major city in Darfur that the RSF had not controlled when the war began. The 110-page document — AFR54/1116/2026 — is Amnesty's most thorough investigation yet of RSF behavior in the region, combining survivor accounts, satellite imagery, and open-source verification of alleged violations.

Why El Fasher Mattered

El Fasher held crucial strategic and symbolic importance throughout Sudan's civil war. When armed conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the RSF erupted in April 2023, every other major city in Darfur fell under RSF control within months. El Fasher remained in government hands, sheltering an estimated one to two million internally displaced people in addition to its original population. The RSF claimed control of parts of the city on 26 October 2025, ending a defensive perimeter that had faced constant attack for over a year.

What Amnesty Found

The report documents patterns of conduct that international humanitarian law classifies as far more severe than random wartime harm. Investigators found evidence that RSF fighters deliberately killed civilians, conducted widespread sexual violence, and deliberately targeted protected sites — mosques, schools, and health facilities — for looting and destruction. Survivors who spoke to Amnesty, including those interviewed in November 2025 after escaping the city, described killings that appeared calculated rather than random, with victims selected according to ethnic identity. This pattern aligned with broader violence targeting non-Arab communities across Darfur.

The ethnic targeting is central to Amnesty's ethnic cleansing conclusion. Under UN definitions, ethnic cleansing means forcing an area to become ethnically uniform through displacement, killing, or intimidation directed at a particular group. The report's key finding is that the RSF targeted people based on community identity, not whether they were combatants — a distinction that legally substantiates the ethnic cleansing claim.

RSF violence extended beyond El Fasher itself. In December 2025, Amnesty documented RSF attacks on Zamzam camp, one of Sudan's largest displacement sites, in which fighters deliberately killed civilians, took hostages, and destroyed basic infrastructure. Earlier, in November 2025, at least 40 people died in a drone strike outside El Fasher in the Kordofan region. These incidents together form part of what the June report describes as a coordinated campaign.

The Legal Framework and International Response

Under international criminal law (the Rome Statute), crimes against humanity require attacks that are widespread or systematic, directed at civilians, and carried out with the attacker's knowledge. Ethnic cleansing is not technically a separate international crime, but it serves as evidence of genocide, crimes against humanity, or war crimes — a legal distinction that shapes how international courts and the UN Security Council respond.

Sudan has signed the Rome Statute and recognizes the International Criminal Court's authority, but prior ICC investigations into Darfur atrocities from the Bashir era have stalled for years without full cooperation from Khartoum authorities. The RSF's leadership — particularly Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemeti, who commands forces — has documented connections to the Janjaweed militias implicated in earlier Darfur violence. Investigators will likely emphasize this continuity in any legal case.

The international backdrop complicates enforcement. The UN Security Council has been unable to coordinate responses to Sudan because major powers have competing interests in the region. Regional organizations like the African Union and IGAD have brokered ceasefires that neither the SAF nor the RSF has fully observed. Humanitarian organizations face severe restrictions in accessing North Darfur, which makes it difficult for UN agencies and NGOs to independently assess conditions.

Amnesty's report carries no legal weight on its own, but documentation of this caliber serves a defined role in international accountability: it creates a detailed evidentiary record, identifies specific military units and command structures, and increases political pressure on countries that fund or support the RSF. Whether foreign backers, particularly Gulf states, will alter their conduct remains an open question. What the report does establish is that the international community now possesses detailed, verified information about what occurred in El Fasher — eliminating any plausible claim of ignorance.