In brief
A Yale research team has reported that Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been systematically covering up mass killings in the city of el-Fasher, which they captured in October 2023. The group is accused of disposing of tens of thousands of bodies while failing to adequately respond to international outcry. The ongoing conflict has also resulted in severe humanitarian consequences, with estimates indicating that 250,000 people remain trapped in the city.
Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has been trying to cover up mass killings in the city of el-Fasher by burying and burning bodies, a research team from Yale University says.
The RSF had drawn international condemnation amid reports of executions and crimes against humanity when its fighters captured the city in October.
Now, analysis of satellite images by Yale's Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL) shows the RSF likely disposed of tens of thousands of bodies after seizing el-Fasher.
The RSF has not responded to the report, but its leader previously admitted his fighters had committed some violations in the city.
The HRL's report said the RSF engaged in a systematic multi-week campaign to destroy evidence of its widespread mass killings and this pattern of body disposal and destruction is ongoing.
The paramilitary group has been fighting Sudan's regular army since April 2023, when a power struggle between the two parties erupted into a brutal civil war.
The United Nations (UN) has described the conflict as the world's worst humanitarian disaster.
After 18 months of besieging el-Fasher, the RSF captured the city - a major victory pushing the army out of its last foothold in the vast Darfur region.
Fresh analysis of satellite imagery found clusters in multiple locations changing in size in the weeks after el-Fasher fell, the HRL says, adding that this demonstrates continued efforts by the RSF to clean up evidence of massacres.
The images also show more than 80 clusters located outside of the city, indicating that the RSF was killing people as they tried to flee.
Following an international backlash, RSF leader Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo declared an investigation into what he called violations committed by his soldiers during the capture of el-Fasher.
However, the group continued to deny widespread allegations that killings in the city are ethnically motivated and follow a pattern of the Arab paramilitaries targeting non-Arab populations.
