UN rights chief outraged by RSF attack on El Fasher

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, condemned a large-scale attack by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on North Darfur’s capital, El Fasher, and the nearby Abu Shouk Camp for displaced people, which left at least 57 civilians dead, including 40 in the camp.

Allegations of field executions have also emerged. Türk warned of the risk of ethnically driven atrocities, echoing patterns of violations documented during the RSF’s assault on Zamzam Camp last April.

“With great sorrow, we are once again witnessing unimaginable horrors befalling civilians in El Fasher,” Türk said, calling the repeated targeting of civilians “absolutely unacceptable”. He urged the warring parties to secure safe corridors, allow aid to flow, and agree to a humanitarian truce.

In a statement on Wednesday, British Foreign Secretary David Lammy denounced the attack as part of a deliberate campaign of violence against civilians. “As fighting intensifies, exit routes from El Fasher remain blocked, trapping hundreds of thousands who now face famine, widespread reports of atrocities, and the rapid spread of disease, including cholera,” he warned, pressing both parties to honour commitments made in the Jeddah Declaration and ensure aid access.

The RSF denied targeting civilians, accusing the army of using people as human shields. They claimed to have opened safe corridors and evacuated more than 800,000 civilians.

30 countries and donors, mostly European, renewed calls for the RSF to lift its year-long siege of El Fasher and allow humanitarian aid to enter. They also urged the SAF to open the Adré border crossing connecting Chad and Darfur, as well as removing bureaucratic barriers to relief efforts.

The UN Security Council issued a strongly worded press statement earlier this week, rejecting the RSF’s announcement of a parallel governing authority. “The members of the Security Council rejected the announcement of the establishment of a parallel governing authority in areas controlled by the Rapid Support Forces.”

They expressed grave concern about the implications of such actions which represent a direct threat to Sudan’s territorial integrity and unity and further risk exacerbating the ongoing conflict in Sudan, fragmenting the country and worsening an already dire humanitarian situation.”

Council members also reaffirmed their support for the Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General, Ramtane Lamamra, and demanded that the RSF lift the siege of El Fasher in line with Resolution 2736 (2024).

Lamamra himself issued a blunt warning: “Sudan can’t endure another day of war; the world must act now.” He noted that one in four Sudanese, nearly 12 million people, have been displaced since April 2023, and described the crisis as “a reckless race to the bottom. And the bottom keeps collapsing beneath us.”