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The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are allegedly digging mass graves in el-Fasher, North Darfur, after seizing control of the city in late October, according to a U.S. researcher, as Sudanese armed groups reject any political framework that treats the RSF as equal to the government.
Nathaniel Raymond, executive director of Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab, told Al Jazeera on Tuesday that RSF forces “have begun to dig mass graves and collect bodies throughout the city.”
He described the move as an attempt to “clean up the massacre” following the group’s takeover of the North Darfur capital on Oct. 26.
The RSF captured el-Fasher after the withdrawal of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), which have been fighting the paramilitary group for control of Sudan since April 2023.
The United Nations reported that more than 70,000 people have fled the city and surrounding areas since the takeover, while witnesses and rights groups have accused the RSF of “summary executions,” sexual violence, and mass killings of civilians.
A Yale Humanitarian Research Lab report on Oct. 28 cited satellite imagery showing pools of blood and evidence of mass killings in the city. UN officials said thousands remain trapped without food, water, or medical care due to ongoing insecurity.
“The current insecurity continues to block access, preventing the delivery of life-saving assistance,” said UNHCR official Jacqueline Wilma Parlevliet.
Sudanese journalist Abdallah Hussain added that el-Fasher had endured an 18-month RSF siege even before the full takeover, with no access to aid or healthcare.
Despite international outrage, the RSF and its allies have denied responsibility for atrocities, blaming armed groups instead. RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, has promised an investigation.
However, Raymond said any credible probe must involve UN and Red Cross access, arguing that “we can’t let the RSF investigate themselves.”
Raymond added that, based on UN data, “more people could have died [in 10 days] than have died in the past two years of the war in Gaza.”
Meanwhile, the Joint Force of Armed Movements in Darfur, a coalition of armed groups supporting the Sudanese army, declared on Wednesday that it rejects any political solution that equates the RSF with the state.
“We reaffirm our full and unwavering support for the will of the Sudanese people, who reject any settlement that creates a distorted reality by equating the legitimate state with an outlawed militia,” the coalition said in a statement.
The groups, including the Justice and Equality Movement and the Sudan Liberation Movement, vowed to continue fighting alongside the army “until the militia is defeated and security and stability are restored throughout the nation.”
The statement followed a U.S. proposal for a three-month humanitarian truce aimed at paving the way for a permanent ceasefire, though neither the Sudanese government nor the RSF has responded.
The RSF now controls all five Darfur states in western Sudan, except parts of North Darfur still held by the army. The SAF maintains control over most of Sudan’s other 13 states, including the capital, Khartoum.
Local and international organizations have reported massacres of civilians in el-Fasher since Oct. 26, warning that the RSF’s territorial gains could deepen the country’s division.
The conflict, ongoing since April 2023, has killed thousands and displaced millions, with no resolution in sight.
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