The sand around the western city of El Fasher in Sudan has been soaked with blood, forming red stains visible even from space. Satellite images capture human bodies clustered around vehicles and near embankments, while there are reports of civilians being shot as they tried to flee after the city fell to RSF forces. After an 18-month siege, the organization captured all major cities in the Darfur region. According to allied military sources, the RSF “committed horrific crimes against innocent civilians” on October 26 and 27, executing more than 2,000 civilians — most of whom were women, children and elderly people.
Satellite images taken on October 27 show rows of corpses lined up in the sand, forming a line outside the former Children’s Hospital, which extends from the building to the gate of the complex.
Analysis of satellite data, as shown in the following photograph, comes from a hospital in an El Fasher neighborhood and records at least four new clusters of corpses that did not exist in images from previous days. Some of the objects measure between 1.1 to 1.9 meters in length.
According to a report published Tuesday (28/10) by Yale University, the RSF’s actions “may constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity, potentially reaching the level of genocide.” The University’s Humanitarian Research Lab confirmed that fears of mass atrocities have been validated.
Video that has come to light shows RSF preparations for potential executions or acts of retaliation as part of their offensive, which was accompanied by massacres and the displacement of millions of people.
This is how bad it is. Survivors say men are put on trucks and taken away. Here, hundreds of men are held by the RSF. https://t.co/W69fK0VoJN
— Mohanad Hashim (@moehash1) October 28, 2025
Sudan: The conflict that brought chaos
The northeast African country has been plunged into civil war since April 2023, when long-standing tensions erupted between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary RSF organization.
The fighting began in the capital Khartoum and spread throughout the country. Since then, it is estimated that more than 150,000 people have lost their lives, while over 14 million have been displaced.
The RSF, known for its brutalities, has been accused of massacring up to 15,000 civilians in the West Darfur capital, El Geneina. The army, for its part, has also been accused of war crimes.
According to Amnesty International, RSF rebels are conducting a deliberate campaign of sexual violence and torture, using terror as a means of subjugating the civilian population.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed deep concern on Monday about the escalation of conflicts and called for immediate and safe delivery of humanitarian aid.
“The Secretary-General strongly condemns reports of violations of international humanitarian law and human rights violations in El Fasher, including indiscriminate attacks and targeting of civilians and non-military infrastructure, as well as gender-based violence and ethnically motivated attacks and abuse,” a spokesperson for Guterres said in a statement.
El Fasher, after a year and a half of siege, has become one of the most grim places of the war. Refugee camps around the city are already in a state of famine, while inside the city residents resort even to animal feed to survive.
The UN had warned that 260,000 civilians, half of whom are children, remained trapped without any access to humanitarian aid.
