In a chilling new chapter of Sudan’s ongoing civil war, mounting evidence points to systematic mass killings and the deliberate destruction of evidence by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) following their violent seizure of El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur. This revelation, brought to light by Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL), underscores the immense human toll and complexity of a conflict that has already displaced millions and become what the United Nations calls the world’s worst humanitarian disaster.
According to the HRL’s latest report, released in mid-December 2025 and cited by multiple outlets including AFP, MENAFN, and Yale University itself, the RSF’s campaign in El-Fasher involved not only widespread killings but also a systematic effort to conceal the scale of their crimes. Satellite imagery analysis identified 150 clusters of objects consistent with human remains scattered in and around the city between late October and late November 2025. These clusters, some corroborated by the RSF’s own social media posts, were found near areas showing reddish discoloration—signs consistent with blood or other bodily fluids, later turning brown as they oxidized.
“HRL assesses that during this time of restricted access, RSF has systematically killed and disposed of a number of objects consistent with human remains likely in the tens of thousands,” the researchers wrote in their report, as cited by Yale University. The evidence, they added, demonstrates that “largescale and systematic mass killing and body disposal has occurred and is occurring on a scale that has not ever been seen before in very high resolution commercial satellite imagery analyzed by civilians.”
Within just a month, nearly 60 of those clusters had vanished from view, while eight new earth disturbances—unlike any typical civilian burial practices—appeared near the original sites. The HRL described these findings as part of a “systematic multi-week campaign to destroy evidence of its widespread mass killings,” a campaign that appears to be ongoing. Satellite analysis further suggested that bodies were disposed of in multiple locations, including outside El-Fasher, and that civilians attempting to flee were among the targets.
The RSF’s leader, Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, has acknowledged that some violations occurred during the group’s capture of El-Fasher. However, as MENAFN reported, he denied that the killings were ethnically motivated and announced an internal investigation into the alleged abuses. Despite these assertions, the HRL’s evidence and numerous survivor accounts suggest a much grimmer reality, with reports of door-to-door killings in the Daraja Oula neighborhood and systematic targeting of people trying to escape through the city’s earthen barriers.
The RSF’s takeover of El-Fasher in October 2025 marked the collapse of the Sudanese army’s last stronghold in Darfur. The aftermath was marked by international outrage, with reports of summary executions, systematic rape, and mass detention surfacing almost immediately. Aid groups and the United Nations have repeatedly called for safe access to El-Fasher, where tens of thousands of survivors remain trapped and communications are largely cut off. Doctors Without Borders highlighted the severity of the crisis, noting that only about 10,000 survivors out of an estimated pre-assault population of 260,000 have managed to reach displacement camps. “Observations point to a catastrophic scenario,” the humanitarian group stated, as cited by Yale University’s report.
The HRL’s findings add to a growing body of evidence documenting atrocities on both sides of Sudan’s civil war, which erupted in April 2023 as a power struggle between the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces. While the RSF has become notorious for ethnic massacres and brutal tactics, the army and its allied militias have also been implicated in ethnically motivated attacks. An investigation by CNN and Lighthouse Reports documented 59 such attacks committed by the army and allied groups in the Al-Jazira region in 2025, targeting Kanabi communities accused of collaborating with the RSF. Bodies were reportedly dumped into canals, and entire villages besieged.
One particularly notorious figure, Sudan Shield Forces commander Abu Aqla Kaykal, has been accused of atrocities committed on behalf of both the RSF and the army. After serving as the RSF’s Al-Jazira commander, he defected to the army in October 2024, playing a key role in the counteroffensive that recaptured parts of central Sudan, including the capital, Khartoum.
The scale of the humanitarian crisis is staggering. The United Nations estimates that over 13 million people have been displaced since the conflict began, with more than 150,000 deaths reported—figures that continue to rise as the war grinds on. The RSF’s control over El-Fasher has allowed it to strengthen its influence in western Sudan, establishing a parallel administration in the city of Nyala. Meanwhile, the Sudanese army retains control over most of the country, and intermittent clashes between the two forces persist.
Efforts to end the war have repeatedly faltered. Most recently, peace talks collapsed after the Sudanese Armed Forces rejected a US-backed truce proposal in November 2025, calling it biased. The RSF nominally accepted the plan but continued its military operations, including its advance into the Kordofan region and seizure of the strategic Heglig oilfield. As a result, the international community has found itself largely powerless to intervene, even as the humanitarian and forensic evidence mounts.
The HRL researchers have called on the United Nations Security Council to act swiftly, urging immediate access to El-Fasher for humanitarian assistance and evidence collection. “Time is of the essence for both those still living and for the evidence left by those who have died,” they wrote. Aid organizations echo this urgency, warning that delays not only risk further loss of life but also threaten to erase the possibility of justice for the victims.
As the world watches, the people of El-Fasher and countless others across Sudan remain caught in the crossfire of a conflict that shows no sign of abating. The systematic destruction of evidence, as detailed by the HRL and corroborated by satellite imagery, serves as both a grim testament to the scale of the atrocities and a stark warning of the challenges ahead for any future reckoning. For now, the fate of Sudan’s civilians—and the possibility of accountability—hangs in the balance, awaiting a response from the international community that has, so far, struggled to match the urgency of the crisis.
