Updated: 10 October 2025 23:40:15
Volker Holds RSF Responsible for Killing Civilians in El Fasher
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The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, condemned the ongoing killing and wounding of civilians in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, holding the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) directly responsible for the attacks. He urged UN member states to take urgent measures to protect civilians in El Fasher and across Darfur.
In a statement released on Friday, the UN Human Rights Office reported that at least 53 civilians had been killed and more than 60 injured by RSF forces between 5 and 8 October 2025, warning that the actual toll is likely much higher.
Türk described the disregard for civilian life as “utterly shocking”, noting that the attacks struck key civilian facilities, including the Saudi Hospital, where at least 14 civilians were killed in artillery and drone strikes targeting the facility — the last major functioning hospital in North Darfur — causing severe damage.
The statement added that at least 46 civilians were killed when Abu Shouk and Dara al-Oula neighborhoods, as well as the Abu Shouk displacement camp, were hit. It further reported that no fewer than seven civilians were summarily executed during house-to-house searches carried out by RSF fighters.
The attacks, the statement said, may have been ethnically motivated, as they targeted members of the Zaghawa community.
The High Commissioner stressed that these acts constitute a gross violation of international law, urging the RSF and all parties to the conflict to “draw lessons” from the recent conviction by the International Criminal Court of Ali Kushayb for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur.
Meanwhile, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) condemned Thursday the latest attack on El Fasher’s Maternity Hospital on Tuesday, which killed at least 12 people and wounded several patients and health workers. It noted that this was the third attack on the same hospital within a single week.
“As the only partially functioning maternity facility in El Fasher,” UNFPA said, “its destruction endangers thousands of pregnant women and newborns, who are already trapped and facing near-famine conditions.”
UNFPA reaffirmed that these assaults represent a blatant violation of international humanitarian law, calling for an immediate cessation of hostilities, protection of civilians and medical facilities, and safe, unimpeded humanitarian access to deliver life-saving assistance to those most in need.
The statement concluded with a renewed appeal for an immediate end to hostilities in and around El Fasher, and for safe humanitarian corridors to provide urgent aid to the affected populations.
