El Fasher massacre
| El Fasher massacre | |
|---|---|
| Part of the second Darfur genocide, the aftermath of the siege of El Fasher, and war crimes during the Sudanese civil war | |
Left to right:
| |
El Fasher Location within Sudan with North Darfur state highlighted | |
| Location | 13°37′50″N 25°21′0″E / 13.63056°N 25.35000°E El Fasher, North Darfur, Sudan |
| Date | 26 October 2025 – present |
| Target | Non-Arab ethnicities including the Fur, Zaghawa and Berti; also prisoners of war of the SAF |
Attack type | Mass killing, ethnic cleansing, genocidal massacre, genocidal rape |
| Deaths | 6,000 (documented); 60,000+ (estimates) |
| Perpetrator | |
| Motive | Tribalism, Arab supremacy, Arabization |
| Convicted | Abu Lulu and other soldiers (by RSF, reportedly) |
A genocidal massacre in the city of El Fasher in western Sudan began on 26 October 2025. Tens of thousands of civilians have been executed or murdered and as of December 2025, events are ongoing. The massacre was carried out by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group after they captured the city, which was the last Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) stronghold in Darfur–marking the end of official state presence in the city and perhaps the region. Humanitarian experts consider it the worst war crime committed during the Sudanese civil war, characterized by mass atrocities and ethnic cleansing. The Yale School of Public Health's Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL) estimated that following the initial 26 October massacre, the "250,000 remaining civilians [had] been killed by RSF, died, been displaced, or persist[ed] in hiding".
In November 2025, a communications blackout in the city was still limiting information. The Yale HRL estimated that the figures of those killed are "undercounted" and Sky News claimed that analysts estimate "tens of thousands" of individuals killed. El Fasher's Resistance Committee stated that many of those living in El Fasher's core were killed.
The speed and intensity of the killings in the immediate aftermath of the fall of El Fasher has been compared to the first 24 hours of the Rwandan genocide. According to Sudanese journalist and author Nesrine Malik:
"The RSF of today is the Janjaweed of yesteryear, except this time armed to the teeth, supported by powerful external allies, and with a renewed appetite to purge once more non-Arab populations it has been hostile to for decades."
On 16 November 2025, Sudan researcher Eric Reeves described the RSF as a "genocidal militia force" and the massacre as a "genocidal slaughter". A United Nations fact-finding mission also reported in 2026 that the massacre showed "the hallmarks of genocide".