A UN investigation says the paramilitary siege and capture of El-Fasher in Sudan bears the hallmarks of genocide, detailing mass killings and systematic rape.

GENEVA: A UN independent fact-finding mission concluded that the paramilitary siege and capture of the Sudanese city of El-Fasher bore “the hallmarks of genocide”.

Its report detailed that the Rapid Support Forces’ seizure of the Darfur city last October inflicted “three days of absolute horror”.

Mission chairman Mohamad Chande Othman said the scale and coordination of the operation showed the crimes were “part of a planned and organised operation that bears the defining characteristics of genocide”.

The investigation found that thousands of people, particularly from the non-Arab Zaghawa ethnic group, “were killed, raped or disappeared”.

It was based on interviews with 320 witnesses and victims from El-Fasher and surrounding areas.

Survivors described widespread killings, indiscriminate shootings, and mass executions at exit points.

The report also detailed detention, torture, humiliation, extortion, ransom and disappearances.

It stated that widespread sexual violence targeted women and girls from non-Arab communities.

“Women and girls ranging from seven to 70 years old, including pregnant women, were subjected to rape,” the mission said.

Investigators said widespread rape “began immediately following the takeover of El-Fasher”.

Many survivors reported being raped in front of their relatives, with sexual violence frequently accompanied by extreme physical brutality.

“In one case, a 12-year-old girl was raped by three RSF fighters in front of her mother, shortly after her father had been killed while trying to protect her,” the report stated.

Rape was often committed in locations where mass killings had taken place, including at El-Saudi Hospital and El-Fasher University.

“Witnesses recounted the RSF violently and publicly gang-raping at least 19 women in rooms filled with corpses,” the report added.

The mission concluded the RSF had acted “with genocidal intent”, finding “at least three underlying acts of genocide were committed”.

These included killing members of a protected ethnic group and causing serious bodily or mental harm.

Investigator Mona Rishmawi said the evidence “leaves only one reasonable inference”.

“The RSF acted with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, the Zaghawa and Fur communities in El-Fasher,” she said.

The mission said such atrocity levels were reached because the perpetrators acted with impunity.

It urged countries to act decisively to prevent further atrocities as the conflict’s focus shifts from Darfur to Kordofan.

The report followed a joint statement from Britain, Canada and the European Union denouncing possible war crimes in Sudan.

British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper called the documented atrocities “truly horrific”.

She said she would raise the findings at the UN Security Council, demanding urgent international action and criminal investigations.

“Most important of all, we need global action and pressure in pursuit of a ceasefire, and essential humanitarian access with support for survivors,” Cooper added.

 The Sun Malaysia