Sudan’s grinding two-year war has erupted into a new and harrowing chapter, as the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) seized full control of Darfur, including the strategic city of el-Fasher, on October 27, 2025. The RSF’s victory over the Sudanese army in this vast western region has not only shifted the conflict’s balance of power but also unleashed a torrent of violence that has shocked the world and stoked fears of the country’s possible disintegration.
The numbers alone are staggering: since the war’s outbreak in 2023, more than 40,000 people have been killed and over 14 million displaced, according to the Associated Press. The recent capture of el-Fasher, Darfur’s provincial capital and the army’s last stronghold in the region, marked a grim milestone. In just three days, at least 1,500 people were killed as desperate civilians tried to flee, the Sudan Doctors Network reported. The Sudanese government put the toll even higher, claiming more than 2,000 deaths in the city since its fall.
“The massacres the world is witnessing today are an extension of what occurred in el-Fasher more than a year and a half ago, when over 14,000 civilians were killed through bombing, starvation, and extrajudicial executions,” the Sudan Doctors Network said, describing the current violence as “a true genocide” and accusing the RSF of a “deliberate and systematic campaign of killing and extermination.” Satellite imagery analyzed by Yale’s Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL) corroborated these claims, revealing clusters of objects consistent with human bodies and large swathes of red discoloration—grim evidence of mass killings.
El-Fasher’s fall was not simply a military defeat for the Sudanese army; it was a humanitarian catastrophe. Aid agencies and survivors recounted credible reports of summary executions, house-to-house raids, and attacks on civilians attempting to escape. Sexual violence, particularly against women and girls, was widespread during the RSF’s advance, according to Al Jazeera and medical groups. Perhaps most shocking were the killings at the Saudi Maternity Hospital: the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that more than 460 patients and companions were murdered there. “WHO is appalled and deeply shocked by reports of the tragic killing of more than 460 patients and companions at Saudi Maternity Hospital in el-Fasher, Sudan, following recent attacks and the abduction of health workers,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. The Sudan Doctors Network added that RSF fighters “cold-bloodedly killed everyone they found inside the Saudi Hospital, including patients, their companions, and anyone else present in the wards.”
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) echoed these sentiments, stating it was “deeply alarmed and profoundly shocked” by the horrifying atrocities and immense suffering inflicted on the people of el-Fasher. Four health workers were reportedly abducted from the hospital during the takeover, further compounding the tragedy.
The RSF, led by Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo—better known as Hemedti—has grown from its origins as the Janjaweed militia, infamous for genocide in Darfur during the 2000s, into a formidable paramilitary force. As of late 2025, Hemedti commands over 100,000 fighters. The RSF’s rise was fueled by gold mining operations, lucrative foreign mercenary contracts, and controversial border protection deals with the European Union, according to the Associated Press. The group’s brutal tactics, however, have remained unchanged, with rights groups and Western governments accusing it of genocide, mass rape, and systematic ethnic violence.
After controlling Khartoum for two years, the RSF retreated earlier in 2025 and regrouped in Darfur, forging new alliances and acquiring advanced weaponry—including drones from Turkey, China, Iran, and Russia. The group’s latest campaign culminated in the siege and eventual capture of el-Fasher, following 18 months of starvation and bombardment. The RSF’s victory has left Sudan effectively split along an east-west axis, with the army entrenched around the Nile and Red Sea, and the RSF dominating Darfur and parts of Kordofan.
International condemnation has been swift and near-universal. Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar, Turkey, and Jordan all denounced the RSF’s abuses, calling for an immediate ceasefire and protection of civilians. The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, condemned the “brutality” of the RSF and highlighted the ethnic targeting of civilians. “Humanitarian organisations must be granted immediate, safe and unconditional access to all those in need,” the EU stated, urging the RSF to allow civilians to leave the city safely. The United States, too, has declared that the RSF and its allies have committed genocide in the current war.
Yet, amid the outcry, the RSF has not addressed the mounting allegations against it. Instead, Hemedti has sought to justify his forces’ actions, declaring in a speech on October 29, 2025, “The liberation of el-Fasher is an opportunity for Sudanese unity, and we say: Sudanese unity through peace or through war.” He expressed regret for the suffering of el-Fasher’s residents, but insisted, “the war was forced upon us.” Hemedti claimed investigators had arrived in the city and that his forces “uphold the law and require accountability from anyone who has made a mistake,” maintaining that the RSF are “peaceful people.”
Observers and analysts see deeper currents beneath the violence. Ahmed Ibrahim, a former Sudanese government official, told Al Jazeera that the war is not merely a struggle between two generals, but part of a broader “geopolitical attempt to restructure the region.” Sudan’s rare earth minerals, livestock, and Red Sea access have all become prizes in a conflict that has drawn in foreign fighters, mercenaries, and weapons from across the region. The Sudanese army has accused the United Arab Emirates and Libya’s Khalifa Haftar of supporting the RSF, charges both have denied.
The humanitarian situation is now dire. The United Nations estimates that more than 30 million Sudanese urgently need assistance, making this one of the largest displacement and hunger crises globally. The expulsion of the World Food Programme’s top officials by Sudan’s military government—just days after el-Fasher’s fall—has further crippled aid operations, leaving millions at risk of starvation and disease.
As the RSF consolidates its hold over Darfur and forms a rival government in the territories it controls, Sudan stands at a crossroads. The specter of a split—reminiscent of South Sudan’s secession in 2011—looms large. The violence in el-Fasher, described by Yale’s Nathaniel Raymond as a “Rwanda-level mass extermination,” may be only a preview of what awaits other regions as the conflict grinds on.
For the civilians of Sudan, the hope for peace seems ever more distant, overshadowed by the relentless march of war and the haunting echoes of past genocides. The world watches, horrified, as a nation once again teeters on the brink of collapse.
