DWAG Weekly Policy Statement, Week of Oct 27th

Genocidal attack, and a Mass Slaughter that Horrified the People Elfarsher

Between October 26th – November 1st, 2025, Elfsher witnessed the worst massacre that took thousands of innocent lives and brought an unspeakable horror to the long-suffering women, men, and children in Darfur. On October 26th, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) seized control of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, after nearly two years of siege and imposed famine. Countless civilians were slaughtered in a large-scale massacre. The Killing, torture, rape, and execution of over 450 patients at a hospital, including medical staff. These killings were recorded and broadcast in a horrifying scene across the internet by the RSF militia’s leaders while cheering in celebration. The people of Elfasher have been suffering and dying in silence for nearly two years of siege, with imposed famine and sexual violence on a staggering scale. While hundreds of thousands have been forced to flee, many more have been killed. Thousands remain trapped under siege, restricted and unable to flee, while those who escape describe the horror of killing, torture, looting, injuries, and terrorization along the road to Tawila. Over 450 unaccompanied children and 460 injured or malnourished civilians have arrived in neighboring towns, many without shelter or medical care.

Systemic attacks on women and medical infrastructure

While the world gathers to mark 25 years of the UNSC resolution 1325, which calls for the protection and participation of women in peace and security efforts, the women of Darfur have been forced to live through untold horror. This proves that UN resolutions without enforcement will remain rhetoric, and criminals will be emboldened to continue committing crimes with impunity

Hospitals have been destroyed by shelling precisely to eliminate all survival means, and at least 25 cases of rape and over 300 women killed, after being subjected to sexual violence and torture, have been documented since the city’s fall, but the actual numbers are much higher.

Survivors Recount the Horrors of Escape

Survivors fleeing El Fasher have described unimaginable brutality at the hands of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) following their seizure of the city on October 26. Women were stripped, beaten, and subjected to sexual violence at RSF checkpoints, while men were summarily executed within sight of their families. One survivor, Madiha Al-Tom Bashir, recounted leaving behind the unburied body of her young child after he was shot dead before her eyes, while her husband was arrested and has not been seen since. Others described roads lined with bodies, children separated from their families, and checkpoints where civilians were forced to stand under the sun, beaten, and insulted with racist slurs. Human rights lawyer Abdelbaset Al-Hajj reported that RSF fighters are now kidnapping civilians and extorting ransoms from their families, up to 100 million Sudanese pounds (≈ $170,000) per person, sending torture videos to coerce payment. These testimonies echo the darkest chapters of Darfur’s past, yet the world’s silence remains deafening.

Famine and Worsening Displacement

For the second time in less than a year, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) Famine Review Panel has formally confirmed famine conditions in El Fasher and Kadugli as of September 2025, expected to persist until at least January 2026. The panel warned of a complete collapse of livelihoods, mass starvation, and soaring malnutrition and mortality rates. At least 21 million Sudanese, nearly half of the population, now face acute food insecurity, including 375,000 people in famine-level conditions (IPC Phase 5). In Darfur and Kordofan alone, 3.6 million are in emergency (Phase 4), and 370,000 are enduring catastrophic (Phase 5) hunger, accounting for 98 percent of those at famine threshold nationwide. Acute malnutrition rates exceed 15 percent in more than 60 percent of surveyed areas, with four Darfur localities reaching nearly 30 percent, the famine threshold. These famine conditions are not a natural disaster, but are man-made by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), who have deliberately weaponized starvation, cutting off trade routes, looting food convoys, and burning crops and markets across North Darfur to force civilian submission. The report warns that without unimpeded humanitarian access, millions will perish, and famine will spread across northern Sudan before the year’s end.

International Response and Calls for Ceasefire

The genocidal attacks in El-Fasher should have shocked the world conscience and prompted them to act to protect civilians, deliver humanitarian aid, and pressure the RFS to end the attack on civilians immediately. These attacks continued because of a lack of serious measures from the international community

Amidst this destruction, international voices have begun to break their silence. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs condemned the RSF’s obstruction of aid as “unacceptable” and called for immediate, unrestricted humanitarian access. Meanwhile, diplomatic talks led by Massad Boulos, Senior Advisor to U.S. President Donald Trump, indicated that both the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces had formally responded to a U.S.-proposed humanitarian truce. The proposal, circulated under the title “Structure for a Declaration of Principles for a Humanitarian Truce Across All Sudanese Territory,” outlines two truce options of three and nine months. It calls for the separation of forces, monitoring of violations through a new Humanitarian Truce Coordination Committee, and guarantees for safe humanitarian corridors across Sudan.

The plan affirms Sudan’s sovereignty and unity but fails to address accountability for atrocities, the protection of civilians, or the role of survivors and women in shaping peace processes. It does not demand the withdrawal of the Rapid Support Forces from occupied civilian areas, the release of abductees, or the prosecution of perpetrators of sexual violence and ethnic cleansing. DWAG warns that any truce lacking these guarantees risks legitimizing the RSF’s control and perpetuating impunity rather than ending the suffering of Sudanese civilians.

At DWAG, we believe that silence is complicity. The genocide in Darfur is not a tragedy of the past; it is unfolding today in El Fasher and beyond. As bombs fall and children starve, the world’s indifference has become another weapon in the hands of the killers. We urge DWAG supporters to join our One Million Voices for Sudan to express outrage and hold our leaders accountable. We must all speak in one voice and tell our leaders that in the face of genocide, they must not look the other way. Normalizing genocide is dangerous to the entire world and must not be tolerated.

We call on the United Nations Security Council, the African Union, the United States, and all international partners to:

Enforce an immediate ceasefire and secure humanitarian corridors to deliver food, medicine, and safe passage for civilians trapped in El Fasher and surrounding areas.
Deploy international protection forces under Chapter VII mandates to safeguard civilians, displacement camps, hospitals, and aid workers.
Ensuring justice for the victims and accountability for perpetrators is a top priority and supporting the mandate of the UN Fact-Finding Mission to document all current atrocities.
Authorize unrestricted humanitarian access and fund emergency health, food, and shelter responses for those affected by famine and siege.

Impose targeted sanctions on RSF leaders, including a travel ban, and on the United Arab Emirates for its financing and arming of the militia in defiance of the UN arms embargo.
Immediately establish humanitarian corridors, ensuring safe passage for trapped civilians and the delivery of life-saving aid by land and air.
Support and resource the UN Fact-Finding Mission and the International Criminal Court to investigate and prosecute those responsible for genocide, sexual violence, and famine as a weapon of war.
Designate the RSF as a terrorist group and call for international action to delegitimize them and hold them accountable.

We can collectively speak in one voice, and we can make a difference, end the suffering, save lives, and hold the perpetrators accountable.

With Gratitude,
Niemat Ahmadi

President, Darfur Women Action Group