Barbara Plett Usher, Africa correspondent
The commander of Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (known as Hemedti), has announced an investigation into violations by his fighters after the RSF seized the city of el-Fasher in Darfur.
Hemedti’s statement — including an apology for the suffering in el-Fasher — follows mounting reports and social media footage that appear to show mass civilian killings after the city fell to the RSF on Sunday. He said a committee has arrived in el-Fasher to examine alleged misconduct by his forces.
The UN Security Council is expected to meet to discuss the crisis in Sudan, now in its third year of fighting between the national army and the RSF.
The World Health Organization has said it is appalled and deeply shocked by reports that nearly 500 civilians, including patients and their companions, were shot dead at what had been the last partially functioning hospital in el-Fasher. The killings have drawn international outrage and calls for accountability.
The RSF rejects widespread charges that the killings were ethnically motivated or that Arab paramilitary fighters are targeting non-Arab communities. Activists and rights groups, however, are demanding increased international pressure on the United Arab Emirates, which they accuse of providing military support to the RSF — an allegation the UAE denies despite references in UN reports.
El-Fasher had been the army’s last major stronghold in Darfur. Its capture followed an 18-month siege during which residents endured starvation and heavy bombardment. With el-Fasher now under RSF control, the capture significantly shifts the balance of territory: the RSF holds most of Darfur and large parts of neighbouring Kordofan, while the Sudanese army retains the capital Khartoum and central and eastern provinces along the Red Sea.
Gen Dagalo and the army were once allies, coming to power together in a 2021 coup. Their alliance collapsed amid disagreement over an internationally backed plan to transition to civilian rule, triggering the ongoing conflict that has devastated much of the country.
