BBC Investigation Finds RSF Systematically Destroyed el-Fasher's Healthcare System
A BBC investigation has found that fighters from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) systematically destroyed the healthcare system in el-Fasher, a city in Darfur in western Sudan, during the siege and takeover of the city. The RSF is one of the two sides in a civil war that broke out in April 2023 between the group and Sudan's military.
The BBC documented at least 43 separate attacks on hospitals and healthcare sites in el-Fasher between May 2024 and October 2025. Its data also shows that 120 medical workers were injured, 55 were killed and 10 were forcibly disappeared or abducted in the city between April 2023 and October 2025.
The hospital system was under strain from the start of the war. El-Fasher's Teaching Hospital closed within weeks of the fighting beginning, and its operations moved to South Hospital. South Hospital was shelled several times in late May and early June 2024, as RSF fighters pushed forward from positions in the east of the city. RSF fighters raided the hospital on 8 June.
UN human rights chief Volker Türk called the BBC's findings on el-Fasher hospitals deeply disturbing. He said that multiple RSF attacks on civilian infrastructure, including health facilities, were serious violations of international humanitarian law, the body of rules governing conduct in war, and may amount to war crimes.
The RSF rejected the BBC's findings. Its health minister described the allegations as propaganda and as a deliberate attempt by the national army and its allies to smear the RSF's reputation.
The attacks on medical facilities have drawn wider attention. In March 2026, the World Health Organization (WHO) condemned the bombing of al-Daein hospital in RSF-held eastern Darfur, an attack that killed dozens of people and forced the site to close. Sudan's military is believed to have carried out the drone strikes, although it has denied responsibility. The WHO said events in el-Fasher were one of the clearest and most severe examples of the wider impact of the conflict on health care in Sudan.
UN investigators have reported that fighting in el-Fasher bore the hallmarks of genocide. Researchers have said that evidence of the intentional targeting of civilians in the city amounts to war crimes. The International Criminal Court has also said there are reasonable grounds to believe claims of war crimes in western Sudan.
The city endured more than 500 days of siege by the RSF, with fighting that continued throughout that period.
