Politics Experts fear massacre of civilians in Sudan
Following the capture of the Sudanese city of Al-Fashir by the RSF militia, experts fear a massive deterioration in the situation for the estimated 300,000 civilians still living there. According to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), refugees are reporting arbitrary violence, killings and executions. Justin Lynch, Sudan researcher and managing director of the Conflict Insights Group, told the US broadcaster CNN that the capture of El Fashir by the RSF could be the beginning of a massacre of civilians, as feared by experts.
29.10.2025, 06:35
SDA
On Monday, the Sudanese army confirmed its withdrawal from the embattled city. The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have thus captured the last town in Darfur controlled by the army. Al-Fashir had been besieged by the RSF for more than 500 days. The militia had prevented food and relief supplies from reaching the starving people. The UN describes the situation in the country as the biggest humanitarian crisis in the world.
The RSF had stated that it wanted to protect civilians in El Fashir and provide safe corridors for those who wanted to leave the city. However, the UN Human Rights Office said it had received "several alarming reports" of atrocities committed by the RSF, including executions of civilians, as well as videos showing dozens of unarmed men being shot dead.
Accusations against the Emirates
Experts criticize the fact that Western governments have so far only appealed to the militia and have not imposed any sanctions on states that support them. "It is another carte blanche for the RSF, for their supporters in the United Arab Emirates, to carry out such mass executions and ethnic cleansing without having to reckon with international measures," said Annette Hoffmann from the Clingendael Institute think tank on ZDF television.
The UAE rejects any interference in the conflict. However, the "Wall Street Journal" reported, citing US intelligence agencies, that the UAE had increasingly supplied weapons to the RSF this year, including modern Chinese drones, but also machine guns, vehicles, artillery, mortars and ammunition. This is the latest example of how the Emirates are using their power to advance their interests.
Tom Fletcher, the head of the United Nations Office of Civilian Emergency Relief (Ocha), told CNN that hundreds of thousands of civilians remain trapped in El Fashir, without food or medical supplies. He reported that the escape routes were blocked due to "intensive bombing and ground attacks".
Experts from the crisis monitoring group ACLED also stated that there was a "high risk of ethnically motivated attacks, particularly against non-Arab groups". The RSF had also committed serious crimes in other parts of the western region of Darfur when seizing territories.
A bloody power struggle has been raging in Sudan since April 2023 between de facto ruler Abdel-Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the RSF. The militia emerged from Arab cavalry militias, which - together with the Sudanese army at the time - are accused of committing genocide against the ethnic-African population in Darfur with up to 300,000 dead.
