'They shot children in front of us': Survivors detail RSF's campaign of brutal ethnic cleansing in Sudan's El-Fasher

Rashida Ishaq's voice breaks as she recalls the moment Rapid Support Forces (RSF) fighters burst into her home in El-Fasher's northern Al Daraja Al Oula neighbourhood on the morning of October 27 after the fall of the city.

Within minutes, they shot her uncle dead in the living room. Hours later, in a public square near the UNICEF office, she watched them execute more than 20 men, including elderly civilians and children under five, while demanding ransom payments from terrified families.

"They shot children in front of us, some not even five years old," said Rashida, a 33-year-old local civil society worker who escaped to Al Tawila city in Northern Darfur after her family paid approximately $1,700 in gold jewellery.

“One of them said: 'Anyone who knows their family's number, call them, you slaves. If your families don't pay the money we demand, you'll all die here.”

Her testimony represents one thread in a tapestry of horror emerging from El-Fasher. This North Darfur capital fell to the UAE-backed militia in late October 2025 after withstanding more than 500 days of siege.

What unfolded in the city's final days has been described by UN officials and survivors as “systematic ethnic cleansing”, with credible reports indicating more than 2,000 civilians were killed in just two days, including nearly 500 patients and companions massacred inside the Saudi Maternity Hospital.

The fall of El-Fasher marks not just a military turning point in Sudan's brutal 20-month civil war, but what survivors, rights advocates, and UN investigators characterise as one of the conflict's most devastating atrocities — a coordinated campaign of execution, sexual violence, extortion, and forced displacement that has left the city's social fabric in ruins.

'Death squares' and mass executions

Rashida's account of being marched to a public execution site under armed guard echoes dozens of survivor testimonies trickling out from El-Fasher and reaching displaced persons camps across the region.

Her family, nine people including her three sisters, two younger brothers aged 14 and 16, and her sick grandmother, were among hundreds of civilians herded into makeshift detention areas where RSF fighters separated men and boys for systematic killing.

"They began executing men and young people in front of us by shooting, amid women's screams and children's wailing," she told The New Arab.

"More than 20 men, including elderly people, were killed with direct shots to the head and chest."

Demands for money accompanied the killings. Families who could pay, often through mobile banking apps, stood some chance of securing release — those who couldn't faced execution.

Rashida's family ultimately paid roughly 25 million Sudanese pounds (approximately $1,700) in gold jewellery to secure passage out of the city on Tuesday morning, fleeing west toward Kourma along roads still patrolled by militia fighters. Many elderly and sick people collapsed along the way.

The pattern of ransom-then-execution repeated across El-Fasher during the city's collapse.

Ahmed Ali Suleiman, 37, now in the Karnoui area of North Darfur, received a phone call on Sunday saying his younger brother Shammar, 22, had been detained at El-Fasher's northern gate. The captors demanded 50 million Sudanese pounds (approximately $3,300) within three hours.

"I didn't have the full amount, so I asked them to accept five million as a first payment, with the rest to follow later, and they agreed," Ahmed recounted.

"I sent the money via Bankak app from Bank of Khartoum. But hours later, when I called them Sunday evening, they told me, 'Your brother went to heaven.'"

Ahmed later learned that Shammar was killed along with all others detained with him at the exact location. The young man had stayed behind to guard the family home and three vehicles while his parents evacuated to Karnoui, supplied with food stocks to last through what they hoped would be a temporary absence.

'The horror is continuing'

Briefing ambassadors at the UN Security Council, the UN's top relief official, Tom Fletcher, painted a grim picture of ongoing atrocities. "Women and girls are being raped, people being mutilated and killed – with utter impunity," Fletcher said, adding: "We cannot hear the screams, but – as we sit here today – the horror is continuing."

After overrunning the Sudanese Armed Forces' last major stronghold in Darfur, Fletcher said, RSF fighters moved house to house with "credible reports of widespread executions" as civilians attempted to escape.

Nearly 500 patients and their companions were reportedly killed in the Saudi Maternity Hospital, one of numerous health facilities targeted in the fighting.

"Tens of thousands of terrified, starving civilians have fled or are on the move," Fletcher said. "Those able to flee – the vast majority women, children, and the elderly – face extortion, rape and violence on the perilous journey."

Assistant Secretary-General for Africa Martha Pobee called the fall of El-Fasher "a significant shift in the security dynamics," warning that the implications for Sudan and the wider region are "profound."

Fighting has already intensified in the Kordofan region, where the RSF captured the strategic town of Bara last week.

Evidence of systematic atrocities

The UN Fact-Finding Mission on Sudan expressed grave alarm at escalating atrocities surrounding the fall of El-Fasher, having gathered direct and harrowing testimonies from survivors that reveal systematic and ongoing attacks against civilians.

Despite immense challenges in accessing information, initial investigations point to a deliberate pattern of ethnically targeted executions of unarmed civilians, assaults, sexual violence, widespread looting and destruction of vital infrastructure, and mass forced displacement.

"As El-Fasher burns and millions face starvation, the world must choose between silence or solidarity," said Mohamed Chande Othman, chair of the Fact-Finding Mission.

"Since the siege of El-Fasher and the surrounding camps, and following the RSF's takeover of the city, the humanitarian crisis has deepened in real time. We must ensure that the cries of Sudan's victims echo not into a void, but into action."

Humanitarian catastrophe in displacement camps

The exodus from El-Fasher has overwhelmed surrounding areas already straining under previous waves of displacement.

Adam Rijal, spokesperson for the Darfur Displaced and Refugees Coordination, said the Tawila area has received thousands of people fleeing from both Zamzam camp and El-Fasher city in recent days, with the region now hosting five camps — the largest being the Tawila Mayor camp and the Dabat Naira camp.

"The streets are narrow, and the numbers arriving in the past two days are estimated in the thousands," Adam said.

"There is an urgent need to provide food, drinking water, sanitation services, and psychological support, in addition to creating child-friendly spaces and providing shelter materials."

Humanitarian organisations have provided some services, but cannot cover all needs due to the enormous, continuously growing numbers, he said.

Displaced people arriving from El-Fasher suffered grave human rights violations between El-Fasher city and Qurni village, including killing, sexual violence, intimidation, humiliation, provocation, and looting, in addition to hunger and thirst.

Adam said approximately 450 patients have arrived in Tawila, including children with gunshot wounds and suffering from malnutrition. Some left the hospital after receiving treatment, while others remain receiving medical care amid severe shortages of medicines, intravenous solutions, and hospital capacity.

The displacement continues daily, with people arriving individually from morning to evening seeking safety. Some displaced people headed to the Kassab camp in Kutum, while others went to the Kourma area.

'Will be taught in universities'

The Darfur Regional Government accused the RSF of committing crimes against humanity in El-Fasher, describing what occurred as the most heinous chapter in modern Sudanese history.

The city withstood more than two years and hundreds of attacks before falling under the weight of siege, starvation, and what authorities call genocide.

Abdel Aziz Suleiman Auri, the director of the Culture and Media Department in the regional government, said what the RSF commander described as work that "will be taught in universities" is correct, but not as a military achievement, instead as a horrific crime against civilians.

He affirmed that El-Fasher will remain a symbol of steadfastness and heroism despite its military fall.

"RSF forces launched more than 270 consecutive attacks on the city, aided by mercenaries from seven countries," Abdel Aziz said.

"These assaults killed thousands of women, children, and elderly people. They executed wounded patients inside hospitals and reduced markets and places of worship to ash — all amid shameful international silence."

Eisa Dafalla is an independent Sudanese journalist who focuses on covering human rights violations in the Darfur region