The UN Human Rights Office published a report on Dec. 18 detailing its findings of atrocities committed during a three-day assault by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on the Zamzam camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Sudan’s Darfur region.
This wave of attacks took place in April of this year, when the camp fell to the RSF, and were found to constitute grave violations of international humanitarian law (IHL) and international human rights law (IHRL). The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker TĂĽrk, said, “These horrific patterns of violations—committed with impunity—are consistent with what my Office has repeatedly documented.” The UN called for an “impartial, thorough, and effective” investigation to hold those responsible for the atrocities accountable.
The report’s key findings include the killing of at least 1,013 civilians. The report documented widespread summary executions, torture, sexual and gender-based violence, abductions, and enforced disappearances. During the assault, the RSF pillaged food and livestock, looted shops and homes, and burned down houses. This conduct has extensive humanitarian and legal implications, according to the report:
The RSF’s offensive in and around Zamzam IDP camp had a devastating impact on the human rights of its residents, causing widespread loss of life and injuries, including long-term psychological harm…and broad destruction of essential civilian infrastructure. The documented patterns of IHL violations and IHRL abuses suggest that many of these acts were ethnically motivated, targeting individuals based on their tribal identity or perceived affiliation.
The aspect of ethnic motivation relates to recent warnings from the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) over escalating ethnically targeted violence in Sudan.
A woman who returned to the camp to search for her 15-year-old son described the situation, stating, “The camp was empty. I saw scattered dead bodies on the roads. Only chicken, donkeys and sheep were wandering around. The RSF was positioned in the main market.” Another survivor reported to human rights investigators that RSF “fighters were just shouting and shooting anywhere, so that is how many people were killed.”
The Zamzam camp was created in 2004 to hold displaced persons fleeing the war in Darfur. It is located south of El Fasher, the North Darfur state capital. The camp has transformed over the years into an “urban-like setting,” with many children who have never known life outside the camp. According to the UN, roughly 500,000 people lived at Zamzam as of April 2025.
Sudan has signed but not ratified the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), and therefore is not a state party. However, the ICC has jurisdiction over crimes in Darfur under UN Security Council Resolution 1593.
From JURIST, Dec. 18. Used with permission. Internal links added.
Note: Resolution 1593 of 2005 provided the basis for the indictment of Darfur militia leader Ali Kushayb, who was recently convicted by the ICC.
Photo via UN News
RSF war crimes in El Fasher seen
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) released a report Feb. 13 detailing human rights violations committed by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) during their final assault on the Sudanese city of El Fasher, which began on October 14, 2025.
According to the report, atrocities committed during the RSF’s final assault on El Fasher amount to war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity. It documents more than 6,000 killings in the first three days of the offensive and a pattern of rape and gang rape against women and girls, particularly those from ethnic minority groups.
The 29-page report details numerous war crimes including the crimes of murder; intentionally directing attacks against civilians and civilian objects; launching indiscriminate attacks; use of starvation of civilians as a method of warfare; attacks directed against medical and humanitarian personnel; infliction of sexual violence, including rape; torture and other cruel treatment; acts of pillage; and the conscription, enlistment, and use of children in hostilities. The report used the legal frameworks of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and International Human Rights Law (IHRL) for identifying war crimes.
Speaking about the report, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker TĂĽrk stated that “there must be credible and impartial investigations to establish criminal responsibility … whether fair and independent Sudanese courts, use of universal and extraterritorial jurisdiction in third states, before the International Criminal Court (ICC) or other mechanisms.”
According to a report published by the ICC in early 2025, the Court is in “final steps” of presenting arrest applications for war crimes committed in Sudan by the RSF and other factions. The ICC has convicted previous leaders of the Janjaweed militia for crimes committed in Darfur between 2003 and 2004. Janjaweed evolved into the RSF in 2013.
Sudan also brought a case in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for violating the genocide convention. The ICJ later dismissed the claim on the grounds that the ICJ does not have the jurisdiction to hear the case.
The UN report was compiled through interviews with over 140 victims and witnesses in late 2025 and a visit by Volker TĂĽrk to Sudan in early January 2026. The testimony of those interviewed was corroborated with secondary sources along with video and satellite imaging. (Jurist)
RSF acts in El Fasher bear ‘hallmarks of genocide’
A UN fact-finding investigation has concluded that the Rapid Support Forces committed war crimes during its siege and takeover of El Fasher that point to genocide.Â
Based on interviews with 320 witnesses and survivors, the report describes more than 18 months of siege conditions imposed by the RSF, followed by horrendous abuses after the city was stormed. The Arab militia targeted mostly non-Arab Zaghawa residents using explicitly genocidal language tied to victims’Â ethnic identities and perceived political affiliations. People were killed in the streets, at a university, inside a hospital, and while attempting to flee across a berm that had been built around the city during the long siege.
One commander, known as Abu Lulu, was singled out for his particularly sadistic acts. Two survivors recounted how he asked a pregnant woman how far along she was; when she answered “seven months,” he fired seven bullets into her abdomen, killing her. The report documents coordinated sexual violence targeting women and girls from non-Arab communities, ranging in age from seven to 70. Survivors were raped in front of relatives, or in rooms filled with corpses, including those of their own husbands.
By killing men and systematically assaulting women and girls, the RSF attacked the social fabric of the targeted community, and therein carried out genocide. The precise death toll remains unknown, but of El Fasher’s estimated pre-assault population of 260,000, only around 100,000 are believed to have fled. Those who have entered the city since describe it as a ghost town. (TNH)