Since the fall of Sudan’s El-Fasher, reports have emerged of summary executions, sexual violence and abductions.
Satellite imagery suggests mass killings are likely continuing in and around Sudan’s El-Fasher, Yale researchers said, as Germany’s top diplomat on Saturday described the situation there as « apocalyptic. »
At war with the regular army since April 2023, the Rapid Support Forces seized El-Fasher on Sunday, pushing the military out of its last stronghold in the western Darfur region after a grinding 18-month siege.
Since the city’s fall, reports have emerged of summary executions, sexual violence, attacks on aid workers, looting and abductions, while communications remain largely cut off.
Survivors from El-Fasher who reached the nearby town of Tawila have told AFP of mass killings, children shot before their parents, and civilians beaten and robbed as they fled.
Hayat, a mother of five who fled the city, said that « young men travelling with us were stopped » along the way by paramilitaries and « we don’t know what happened to them ».
Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab said fresh satellite images from Friday showed « no large-scale movement », giving them reason to believe much of the population may be « dead, captured, or in hiding. »
The lab identified at least 31 clusters of objects consistent with human bodies between Monday and Friday, across neighborhoods, university grounds and military sites.
« Indicators that mass killing is continuing are clearly visible », the lab said.
