A UN fact-finding mission has concluded that the Rapid Support Forces’ late-October 2025 assault on El Fasher, North Darfur, exhibited “hallmarks of genocide,” with ethnically targeted killings, mass sexual violence, enforced disappearances and a prolonged 18-month siege that cut civilians off from food, water and medical care, principally affecting Zaghawa and Fur communities, the mission reported on 19 February 2026 (Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan, 19/02/2026).

The investigators argue that starvation, systematic identity-based selection of victims, public rhetoric calling for elimination of non-Arab communities and coordinated command endorsement permit “the only reasonable inference” of genocidal intent and warn the risk of further atrocities remains “serious and ongoing.” The account underscores chronic institutional failure, despite repeated international warnings from mid-2024, to deploy effective prevention or protection measures.

The report, to be presented to the UN Human Rights Council on 26 February 2026, demands accountability at all levels and urgent civilian protection across expanding fronts, including Kordofan, to forestall further ethnic annihilation and restore minimal human-rights guarantees (UN Fact-Finding Mission, 19/02/2026).

Sources: Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan, report summary, 19 February 2026; presentation scheduled to UN Human Rights Council, 26 February 2026.