“It is as if a tsunami had hit the city,” said a resident who returned to Sudan’s El Fasher only to find it destroyed and largely abandoned after the Rapid Support Forces’ (RSF) October 2025 takeover.

For 18 months, the RSF laid siege to the city, digging a trench around it in its final months, forcing starving residents to survive on animal fodder, until even that ran out.

In the siege’s final weeks, the RSF increasingly used drones to target government soldiers, aligned armed groups, and civilians who were ensnared in a tiny area, leaving many maimed or dead.

During the last days of the offensive, the RSF committed multiple massacres . The UN Human Rights Office estimates over 6,000 people were killed in just three days.

RSF fighters also committed widespread sexual violence against women and girls and ran a massive abduction-for-ransom racket, killing those who couldn’t pay.…