Sudan army-aligned group accuses RSF of executing 2,000 in El-Fasher

PORT SUDAN, Sudan: Sudanese army allies the Joint Forces accused paramilitaries of having “executed more than 2,000 unarmed civilians” since taking control of the western city of El-Fasher on Sunday, as alarming reports of atrocities emerge.

The Rapid Support Forces (RSF), at war with the army for over two years, “committed heinous crimes against innocent civilians in the city of El-Fasher, where more than 2,000 unarmed citizens were executed and killed on October 26 and 27, most of them women, children and the elderly”, the Joint Forces said in a statement on Tuesday.

The Sudanese army chief said on Monday that it had withdrawn from El-Fasher following a protracted RSF siege, with the UN warning the “risk of further large-scale, ethnically-motivated violations and atrocities in El-Fasher is mounting by the day”.

Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab said on Monday it had found “evidence consistent with Rapid Support Forces (RSF) conducting alleged mass killings after capturing El-Fasher, North Darfur, according to satellite imagery analysis”.

African Union condemns atrocities

The African Union chairman condemned on Tuesday alleged “atrocities” and reported “war crimes” in Sudan’s strategic hub of El-Fasher and called for an immediate halt to fighting.

After an 18-month siege, the city was seized in October by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group which Sudanese army troops have been fighting since April 2023.

African Union Commission Chairperson Mahmoud Ali Youssouf “expresses deep concern over the escalating violence and reported atrocities” in El-Fasher, said a statement on X, condemning “alleged war crimes and ethnically targeted killings of civilians”.

He also called for an “immediate cessation of hostilities and the opening of humanitarian corridors to allow life-saving aid to reach affected populations”.

Youssouf emphasised there could be “no military solution” to the crisis, urging all parties to engage in dialogue to “commit to a peaceful, inclusive political process”.

On Monday, Sudan’s army admitted it had withdrawn from El-Fasher as the United Nations issued stark warnings over atrocities by the RSF.

The capture of the city in western Darfur could mark a significant turning point in Sudan’s war, which has caused the deaths of tens of thousands of people and displaced nearly 12 million.