A detailed investigation by The Washington Post, written by Catherine Houreld and Hamza Harun, reports that Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) carried out mass abductions and killings after seizing the city of El-Fasher in western Sudan. According to testimonies from survivors, human rights groups, and relatives of victims, the RSF detained thousands of civilians, demanding ransom payments and executing those unable to pay.
The city, besieged for more than a year by RSF fighters from early 2024, witnessed routine killings and abductions of civilians trying to flee. When the Sudanese army withdrew from its last positions in late October, RSF units stormed the city and began large-scale kidnappings, including of women and children. Survivors described torture, starvation, and forced calls to families to plead for ransom money.
The Post interviewed nine victims, their relatives, and activists. While independent verification remains difficult due to communication blackouts, the patterns described matched accounts from rights monitors and other witnesses. Reports depict harrowing scenes of families crushed under armored vehicles, detainees executed on camera, and orphaned children wandering alone in the desert.
The United Nations has labeled Sudan’s war “the world’s worst humanitarian crisis,” with tens of thousands killed and over 12 million people displaced during nearly three years of civil war.
Accounts from El-Fasher reveal widening geopolitical rifts: Saudi Arabia, which supports the army, and the United Arab Emirates, accused of backing the RSF militarily and financially, are increasingly at odds despite both being U.S. allies. Emirati leaders deny supplying the RSF, but weapons previously sold to the UAE have been repeatedly traced to RSF depots. U.S. lawmakers have begun to criticize Abu Dhabi for these links.
Despite multiple rounds of U.S. sanctions on both forces, Washington’s measures have done little to halt the violence. Last month, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman reportedly urged former U.S. President Donald Trump to help end the conflict. Trump later wrote on his social platform Truth Social that he would work with regional partners “to stop these atrocities.”
The report estimates roughly 270,000 civilians were inside or around El-Fasher when it fell on October 27. About 106,000 fled within six weeks, leaving the fate of many others unknown. Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab director Nathaniel Raymond told the paper the RSF may have already killed tens of thousands. His team has mapped at least 140 mass grave sites and thousands of efforts to hide bodies.
Witnesses described RSF fighters executing prisoners, crushing civilians with vehicles, and extorting ransoms in the tens of millions of Sudanese pounds. In one documented case, a Sudanese doctor and dozens of captives were forced to call their families for ransom money under threat of immediate execution. Prisoners who failed to pay were allegedly shot on the spot.
Another account detailed mass killings at checkpoints and assaults on civilians by allied Arab militias. Survivors said those identifying as members of African tribes particularly the Zaghawa were systematically executed.
Reports also cited conditions in Dagrees Prison near Nyala, where thousands of captives from El-Fasher are being held. Witnesses described extreme overcrowding, torture, and deaths from disease and neglect, noting that a nearby mass grave was filled within weeks. The Sudan Doctors’ Union estimates over 5,000 civilians remain detained in the region, including health workers, journalists, and politicians.
Source: The Washington Post / Al-Quds Al-Arabi summary edition.
