Yale researchers find 57 el-Fasher grave sites vanished within a month

Yale's Humanitarian Research Lab identified 150 clusters of objects consistent with human remains in el-Fasher between late October and late November 2025. Of those sites, 57 disappeared entirely within four weeks. Twenty others showed signs of burning. The data suggests an active effort to erase physical evidence of the violence that followed the city's capture.

The Rapid Support Forces seized el-Fasher on 26 October 2025 after a siege lasting more than 500 days. Monitoring groups counted at least 6,000 dead in the first 72 hours using satellite imagery. Approximately 260,000 people remained inside the city when the final offensive began. In Bara, North Kordofan, volunteers have recovered more than 600 bodies from 200 mass graves. Witnesses describe the victims as civilians killed during the same October offensive.

Hala, a survivor who uses a pseudonym for security, returned to el-Fasher three weeks ago from the Tawila refugee camp. She went to collect a birth certificate and an ID card. RSF fighters questioned her on arrival and issued a handwritten entry permit with her name, a signature, and a date. The next day, soldiers spoke to her in the street using abusive language. She said she was not physically attacked only because other civilians were nearby. Hala stated that there is no security in el-Fasher at all. She has since returned to Tawila and plans not to go back.

Survivors described specific patterns of violence. Mohamed Hassan said fighters fired on men they judged to be soldiers of the Sudanese Armed Forces or allied Joint Forces. Close to 500 people were killed at the Saudi Maternity Hospital, where displaced families and medical staff had sheltered. UN investigators documented mass killings at el-Fasher University and on roads leading out of the city. One in six people screened by a UN team in December had severe acute malnutrition.

The RSF has maintained a communications blackout in el-Fasher and barred human rights investigators. RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, announced an investigation into violations by his soldiers. A UN fact-finding mission concluded in February that the RSF committed acts of genocide in the city. The US government and Amnesty International reached similar findings about Darfur.

Displacement continues to strain resources. Tawila now hosts around 800,000 people, most of whom are from el-Fasher. Survivors report that the RSF still detains fleeing men and demands ransoms of up to $3,000. Khadijah, an elderly woman from el-Geneina, said she lives under a tree on a farm with little food and no shelter. Mudathir Mohammed Diqourni of an el-Fasher resistance committee said RSF militias are destroying farms and killing farmers in South and Central Darfur.

A UN mission found reasonable grounds to believe that private companies and recruiters based in the UAE routed weapons through Chad, southeastern Libya, and Bosaso in Somalia. Mona Rishmawi, a member of the mission, said the supplies included weapons, drone-related equipment, logistical help, and personnel. The United States remains the UAE's top weapons supplier, and British weaponry has been found on Sudanese battlefields.