UN probe finds mass killings, gang rapes by Sudan’s RSF amount to genocide

What Happened

On 12 June 2025, the UN Fact-Finding Mission for Sudan released a report finding that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) committed genocide during its siege of el-Fasher, North Darfur. The mission concluded that the RSF's systematic campaign—including large-scale killings, gang rapes, and deliberate starvation—was part of an intentional policy. Survivors described being raped in rooms with the bodies of recently killed civilians. The report also documented the war crime of starvation through a prolonged siege that impeded relief supplies and shelled food production systems. The RSF has denied the abuses, claiming the accounts are fabricated by its enemies.

Key Actors

Why It Matters

The UN findings mark a rare explicit determination of genocide by an international body in an ongoing conflict, elevating legal and moral pressure on the RSF and its external backers. The report draws urgent attention to el-Obeid, where an RSF buildup threatens half a million people, and may spur the UN Human Rights Council's newly launched inquiry and potential international accountability measures.

Watch For

RSF military movements and possible escalation around el-Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan, where a humanitarian catastrophe is feared; the progress and findings of the urgent inquiry established by the UN Human Rights Council on 9 June 2025 into abuses in the Kordofan region; and any diplomatic or sanctions responses by the UK, US, or other states in light of the genocide determination.