After Human Rights Watch, What Does Amnesty Internationals Report Add on El Fasher?

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Reading the reports published by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International on the siege of El Fasher and the consequences of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) takeover is akin to reading two Sudanese literary works: Mansour El Souwaims Borders of Ashes and Abdelaziz Baraka Sakins The Messiah of Darfur. If Borders of Ashes meticulously constructed the architecture of catastrophe and anticipated its roots through rigorous social insight, then The Messiah of Darfur shattered that structure, transforming the blood and suffering of victims into a surreal cry against the brutality of genocide.

The time gap between the two reports appears to have significantly shaped both their structure and substance.

Human Rights Watch released its first report shortly after RSF forces captured El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur State, on October 29, 2025—only days after the citys fall. It was an initial assessment that relied heavily on video analysis and urgent witness testimonies. The organization subsequently called for a special session of the UN Human Rights Council on El Fasher on February 12 this year and later published additional findings and analysis concerning its investigation into the citys capture. Taken together, Human Rights Watchs work represents the first comprehensive international documentation of the atrocities committed following the fall of El Fasher.

Amnesty International, by contrast, published its report at the beginning of July—nearly six months later—but following an eight-month investigation. Its findings are based on 247 interviews, satellite imagery, and analysis of 89 videos. More importantly, the report provides a far more detailed legal assessment, classifying the abuses as crimes against humanity and identifying field commanders allegedly responsible for specific violations.

Amnestys report constitutes a comprehensive investigative effort designed to support future international criminal accountability. It covers the period from early 2024 through the complete RSF takeover of El Fasher in October 2025 and the events that followed until January 2026.

Whats New?

Both reports document the same broad pattern of violations: the siege of the city, obstruction of humanitarian aid, killings of civilians, attacks on displacement camps, violence against women, and ethnically targeted abuses.

The principal additions in Amnesty Internationals report lie in the breadth of evidence, the attribution of individual responsibility, and a more sophisticated legal characterization of the crimes.

Compared with Human Rights Watch, Amnesty moves beyond documenting war crimes to presenting a much stronger legal case for crimes against humanity. While Human Rights Watch focused on the siege, indiscriminate attacks, civilian killings, obstruction of humanitarian assistance, and possible war crimes, Amnesty explicitly concludes that RSF forces committed crimes against humanity, including extermination, enslavement, sexual slavery, ethnic persecution, unlawful imprisonment, and torture.

This marks a significant legal development because crimes against humanity do not depend on the existence of active combat as much as they require proof of a widespread or systematic policy directed against civilians.

Amnesty also devotes substantial attention to sexual slavery, going beyond documenting incidents of sexual violence to provide a more precise legal classification. According to the report, women were abducted, detained for weeks, forced to cook and clean, and subjected to repeated rape.

Children as Deliberate Targets

One of Amnestys strongest contributions concerns crimes against children.

Based on direct interviews with child survivors, the organization concludes that children were not merely "collateral damage" but were deliberately targeted through killing, injury, rape, forced recruitment, and abduction—including children with disabilities.

This places Amnestys findings in close alignment with the standards used by the United Nations Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism on Children and Armed Conflict.

While Human Rights Watch documented widespread attacks against civilians and large-scale ethnic abuses, Amnesty dedicates substantial legal and analytical attention to the physical and psychological harm intentionally inflicted on children. It also documents women giving birth inside shelters and under bombardment, highlighting the devastating humanitarian consequences of the siege.

Persons with Disabilities

Another notable addition is Amnestys documentation of the experiences of persons with disabilities.

The report details the extraordinary difficulties disabled civilians faced while attempting to flee, including being specifically targeted during attacks, having mobility aids stolen, and suffering disproportionate consequences from the conflict.

Previous reports on El Fasher paid comparatively little attention to this issue.

Evidence of Ethnic Persecution

To substantiate the crime of persecution and demonstrate the racial dimension of the violations, Amnesty documents the repeated use of the racial slur Falanqay.

The report argues that this was not merely abusive language but legal evidence of discriminatory intent and ethnic persecution rooted in the historical legacy of slavery.

Hostage-Taking for Ransom

Amnesty also introduces extensive documentation of hostage-taking for ransom—an issue that received far less attention in Human Rights Watchs reporting.

The organization documented 45 unlawful detentions, including 36 hostages held for ransom. Children were among those detained, and the report records the amounts demanded for their release, strengthening the argument that these crimes were committed for financial gain.

Earthen Berms and Detention Centers

The report further documents the tragedy surrounding the network of earthen defensive berms surrounding El Fasher.

According to Amnesty, civilians attempting to escape were trapped, killed, or summarily executed along a 57-kilometer network of earthworks that effectively became sites of mass graves.

The report also contains eyewitness testimony and visual evidence showing detainees held under inhumane conditions inside sealed shipping containers at detention facilities, including the "Al-Bari Port" detention center on the eastern outskirts of El Fasher.

Individual Criminal Responsibility

Perhaps Amnesty Internationals most significant contribution is its emphasis on individual criminal responsibility.

Unlike Human Rights Watch, which refers more generally to command responsibility, Amnesty identifies specific field commanders allegedly responsible for particular crimes.

The report names Major General Jado Hamdan Ahmed Mohamed, Lieutenant Colonel Abbas Khater Bakhit, and Al-Fatih Abdallah Idris ("Abu Lulu"), linking each commander to specific alleged violations.

Different Recommendations

The two organizations also diverge in their recommendations.

Human Rights Watch has consistently called on the international community to increase political pressure, strengthen sanctions, and pursue accountability mechanisms.

Amnesty International goes further, recommending the deployment of an independent international protection force to safeguard civilians in and around El Fasher.