The UN rights office on Friday accused Sudan's Rapid Support Forces of war crimes and possible crimes against humanity during the capture of El-Fasher, saying some 6,000 were killed in just three days.
Since April 2023, the conflict between Sudan's army and the RSF has killed tens of thousands, displaced 11 million and triggered what the UN calls one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.
During its final offensive in October, the RSF unleashed "a wave of intense violence... shocking in its scale and brutality" and amounting to war crimes and possible crimes against humanity, said a report from the UN Human Rights Office, AFP reported.
The report said the RSF and allied Arab militia carried out widespread attacks, including mass killings and summary executions, sexual violence, abductions for ransom, torture and ill-treatment, detention, disappearances, pillage and the use of children in hostilities.
In many cases, these were directed against civilians and people outside combat based on their ethnicity or perceived affiliation, it said.
Based on interviews with over 140 victims and witnesses conducted in Sudan and eastern Chad in late 2025, the Human Rights Office said it documented more than 6,000 killings in the first three days of the RSF offensive.
It said that of those, at least 4,400 people were killed within El-Fasher and over 1,600 others were killed as they fled along exit routes.
"The actual scale of the death toll during the week-long offensive is undoubtedly significantly higher," the office said.
The report voiced serious concerns over the fate of thousands of missing people.
"The unprecedented scale and brutality of the violence meted out during the offensive deeply compounded the horrific violations the residents of El-Fasher had already been subjected to during the long months of siege, constant hostilities and bombardment," said UN rights chief Volker Turk.
He said persistent impunity was fuelling the violence.
"There must be credible and impartial investigations to establish criminal responsibility, including of commanders and other superiors," Turk said.
"These must lead to meaningful accountability for perpetrators of exceptionally serious crimes, through all available means."
