A new Amnesty International report published July 1 details a systematic campaign of atrocities by Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in and around El Fasher, the last major city in Darfur not under RSF control. The report, titled “City Under Siege, Children Under Fire,” is based on eight months of investigation, 247 interviews, 89 verified videos, and satellite imagery analysis.
Amnesty documented murder, torture, rape, sexual slavery, forcible displacement, and unlawful detention targeting civilian populations, in particular the Zaghawa ethnic group. Twenty female rape survivors were interviewed, three of them girls. Boys as young as 13 were detained in shipping containers, beaten with ethnic slurs, and denied food and water. Hundreds died in custody from dehydration and disease. Three RSF commanders are named individually, including Al-Fateh Abdullah Idris, shown in nine verified videos executing captives.
Amnesty concludes the documented acts may also be relevant to the crime of genocide. RSF commander General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo received the findings in June and has not responded. Amnesty is calling for a nationwide ceasefire, an international protection force, a halt to arms shipments, and an end to UAE arms supplies to the RSF pending UN embargo compliance.
Source: Amnesty International, Al Jazeera
So What
This report is damning, but the pattern it describes is not new. The RSF has been accused of mass atrocities in Darfur since the conflict escalated in April 2023. What’s new is the scale of documented evidence and the explicit framing of UAE arms support as a sustaining factor.
The UAE is likely still supporting the RSF, which could prolong the conflict. As long as this support exists, the situation is expected to worsen. The international community may address this at the UN and call for sanctions, but effective enforcement is unlikely. The ICC moves slowly, the AU lacks a strong enforcement record, and the Security Council is stalled. For civilians in El Fasher, the immediate outlook is grim.
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