UN Declares Sudan Atrocities Bear 'Hallmarks of Genocide

Three days of absolute horror. That's how UN investigators describe what happened when the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) finally captured el-Fasher in October 2024, after an 18-month siege that starved an entire city into submission.

For the first time since Sudan's civil war erupted in 2023, the United Nations has come as close as it ever does to declaring genocide—officially stating that evidence points to the "hallmarks of genocide" in the systematic targeting of Zaghawa and Fur ethnic communities.

The Anatomy of Systematic Destruction

The UN fact-finding mission's report reads like a prosecutor's case file. El-Fasher wasn't just conquered—it was methodically destroyed. The RSF didn't simply lay siege; they implemented what investigators call "deliberate starvation" as a weapon of war, systematically weakening the "targeted population" before unleashing extreme violence.

"The body of evidence we collected—including the prolonged siege, starvation and denial of humanitarian assistance, followed by mass killings, rape, torture and enforced disappearance, systematic humiliation and perpetrators' own declarations—leaves only one reasonable inference," said fact-finding mission expert Mona Rishmawi.

The report identifies at least three underlying acts of genocide: killing members of protected ethnic groups, causing serious bodily and mental harm, and deliberately inflicting conditions calculated to destroy these groups physically. During the final assault, RSF troops failed to distinguish between Zaghawa civilians and armed defenders, treating ethnicity itself as a military target.

A Familiar Playbook, Amplified

What makes this particularly chilling is the historical precedent. The same Arab militias that form the RSF's backbone carried out similar massacres 20 years ago under dictator Omar al-Bashir, killing hundreds of thousands of Darfuris from indigenous African ethnic groups.

But investigators note this time was different—"an aggravation of earlier patterns but on a far more lethal scale." The RSF's military campaign was reinforced by foreign mercenaries equipped with "advanced weaponry and communications systems," suggesting a level of external support that dwarfs previous conflicts.

The Chain of Command

The UN report doesn't mince words about responsibility. It directly names RSF leader Lt Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (known as Hemedti) and spokesperson Lt Col Al-Fatih Al-Qurashi, citing how they "publicly claimed and celebrated the operation."

While Hemedti acknowledged some "violations" and described el-Fasher as a "catastrophe," he justified the assault as necessary and promised investigations. But when UN investigators requested clarification on what steps the RSF had taken, they received no response.

"The scale, coordination, and public endorsement of the operation by senior Rapid Support Forces leadership point to a planned and organised operation executed through an established hierarchy," the mission concluded.

The International Enablers

Perhaps most frustrating for investigators is what they couldn't fully explore. The mission's mandate didn't include investigating external actors supporting the RSF, though the report notes they're "engaging with several states" regarding "credible information" about their involvement.

The United Arab Emirates remains the elephant in the room. Widely reported as the RSF's main backer, the UAE continues to forcefully deny this despite what the UN has previously described as credible evidence from international investigations. Notably, there was no public pressure on the Emiratis from the UN, US, or UK even after the el-Fasher massacre.

The Failure of Prevention

UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper called the findings "truly horrific" and plans to take them to the UN Security Council. But her own words reveal the international community's fundamental failure: "When the stories started to emerge about the horrors of el-Fasher it should have been a turning point, but the violence is continuing."

The investigators are blunt about this failure: "Without prevention and accountability, the risk of more genocidal acts remains serious and ongoing." They noted that despite clear warning signs, the international community failed to prevent the atrocities.

Both warring parties continue to frame the conflict as existential, supplied with increasingly sophisticated weapons by foreign backers. The existing arms embargo on Darfur remains poorly enforced, and calls to expand it to the rest of Sudan have gone unheeded.