Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has been trying to erase evidence of mass killings in El-Fasher, the capital city of North Darfur state, by burying and burning bodies, a Yale University report found.
According to an analysis of satellite images by Yale’s Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL), the RSF “destroyed and concealed evidence of its widespread mass killings” in El-Fasher, which the paramilitary group captured in October 2025 after an 18-month siege.
Erasing Evidence
The fall of El-Fasher to the RSF has sparked worldwide condemnation as the paramilitary’s fighters have unleashed a wave of summary executions, sexual violence and mass detention.
“RSF subsequently engaged in a systematic multi-week campaign to destroy evidence of its mass killings through burial, burning, and removal of human remains on a mass scale. This pattern of body disposal and destruction is ongoing,” the report noted.
Systematic Effort
The HRL analysis identified 150 clusters of objects consistent with human remains. Of these, 57 clusters disappeared within four weeks, indicating a systematic effort to erase evidence.
“Large-scale and systematic mass killing and body disposal has occurred and is occurring on a scale that has not ever been seen before,” the HRL report stated, estimating the number of victims in El-Fasher “in the tens of thousands.”
Sudan War
The war in Sudan broke out in April 2023, between the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), driving the country into effective partition.
Currently, the SAF controls the center, north and east, while the RSF holds the entire Darfur region and parts of Kordofan in the south, with each side declaring a government.
The conflict has also triggered what the UN described as “the world’s largest humanitarian and displacement crisis,” killing tens of thousands of people, displacing over 12 million, and pushing parts of the country into famine amid cholera outbreaks.
Most recently, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) put Sudan on top of its 2026 Emergency Watchlist, for the third consecutive year.
