Sudan’s City of Bones: al-Fashir’s Fall to RSF Unleashes Wave of Atrocities, Trapping Thousands

NAIROBI/CAIRO – The fall of the Sudanese city of al-Fashir to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has unleashed a wave of atrocities and created a “truly horrifying” humanitarian catastrophe, with tens of thousands of civilians trapped, facing mass killings, and unable to flee, according to aid groups and international officials.

The capture of al-Fashir, the last army stronghold in the vast Darfur region, on Sunday marks a decisive and grim turning point in Sudan’s 14-month civil war. The RSF, born from the Janjaweed militias of the early 2000s, now controls all five state capitals in Darfur, a region it has been accused of attempting to ethnically cleanse once before.

A City Besieged, Then Overrun

For 18 months, al-Fashir was under a grinding siege, its population of nearly 300,000 suffering from starvation and relentless bombardment. When the RSF finally pushed the military out, the city’s fragile communications network collapsed, plunging it into an information blackout from which only fragmented, horrific accounts have emerged.

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said Saturday that thousands are feared trapped and in “grave danger,” with the RSF actively preventing them from reaching safety. “The numbers of people arriving in Tawila don’t add up, while accounts of large-scale atrocities are mounting,” said Michel Olivier Lacharite, MSF head of emergencies. The nearby town of Tawila has received only about 5,000 displaced, a fraction of the more than 65,000 the UN estimates have fled.

“Where are all the missing people who have already survived months of famine and violence in al-Fashir?” Lacharite asked. “The most likely, albeit frightening, answer is that they are being killed, blocked, and hunted down when trying to flee.”

‘Mass Killing is Continuing’

Eyewitness accounts and satellite evidence paint a picture of systematic violence. Survivors who reached Tawila have described to AFP mass killings, children being shot in front of their parents, and civilians being beaten and robbed as they fled. One survivor, Hayat, a mother of five, said, “young men traveling with us were stopped… we don’t know what happened to them.”

MSF reported that a group of 500 civilians and allied soldiers attempting to flee on Sunday was ambushed, with most killed or captured. Survivors described people being separated by gender, age, and ethnicity, with many held for ransom.

The Yale University Humanitarian Research Lab, which analyzes satellite imagery and open-source data, provided chilling corroboration on Friday. It identified at least 31 clusters of objects consistent with human bodies across the city between Sunday and Friday. The lab noted “no large-scale movement” of civilians in fresh imagery, leading to the grim conclusion that the population is likely “dead, captured, or in hiding.” Their assessment was stark: “Indicators that mass killing is continuing are clearly visible.”

While the UN suggests a death toll in the hundreds, army allies have accused the RSF of killing over 2,000 civilians.

International Condemnation and a Legacy of Impunity

The international response has been one of unified condemnation but limited action. At a conference in Bahrain, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul described Sudan as being in an “absolutely apocalyptic situation,” while British Foreign Minister Yvette Cooper called the reported abuses “truly horrifying,” citing “atrocities, mass executions, starvation and the devastating use of rape as a weapon of war.”

The RSF, facing global outrage, claimed on Thursday it had arrested several fighters accused of abuses. However, UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher and other observers deeply question the group’s commitment to a genuine investigation, given its leadership’s history and the scale of the alleged crimes.

A Nation Fractured and a Crisis Spreading

The fall of al-Fashir effectively splits Sudan in two along an east-west axis. The regular army, under General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, retains control of the north, east, and center, including the capital, Port Sudan. The RSF, led by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, now dominates the west.

This strategic victory for the RSF does not signal an end to the conflict but a dangerous new phase. UN officials warn the violence is already spreading eastward into the neighboring Kordofan region, with reports of “large-scale atrocities perpetrated” by the RSF.

The wider war, which erupted in April 2023 over a planned integration of the two forces, has created one of the world’s most severe human catastrophes. It has killed tens of thousands, displaced nearly 12 million people inside and outside the country, and pushed millions to the brink of famine, creating the world’s largest displacement and hunger crises. The fall of al-Fashir now threatens to exacerbate this disaster, leaving a city and its people as a stark testament to the international community’s failure to protect civilians.

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