Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) committed crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing while deliberately targeting children during their campaign to seize El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state, Amnesty International said on Wednesday.

The global rights organisation called for an immediate nationwide ceasefire and the deployment of an international force to protect civilians after documenting killings, torture, rape, sexual slavery, forced displacement and other abuses between early 2024 and October 2025.

Sudan has been at war since April 2023, with fighting between the army and the RSF killing tens of thousands of people and forcing millions to flee, according to the United Nations.

Both sides have been accused of atrocities, and a UN fact-finding mission said in February that the 2025 assault on El Fasher bore the "hallmarks of genocide".

Follow us on WhatsApp | LinkedIn for the latest headlines

Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International's secretary general said: "The war in Sudan is a war on civilians. The world was warned of the horrors that civilians in El Fasher confronted as the RSF laid siege to the city. It is a stain on the conscience of humanity."

The investigation was based on interviews with 247 people, including 208 survivors, as well as analysis of 89 videos and satellite imagery.

A letter setting out the findings was also sent to RSF leader General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo on 10 June 2026, but no response had been received by the time the report was published.

Seven European countries urge 'immediate halt' to Sudan violence

Children under fire

Systematic attacks targeted villages, towns and displacement camps around El Fasher that were home to many people from the Zaghawa, a non-Arab ethnic group in Darfur, Amnesty said.

Homes were burned after residents had fled, leaving areas uninhabitable and preventing displaced people from returning.

A siege of El Fasher from May 2024 until October 2025 restricted food and humanitarian supplies, causing what Amnesty described as a manufactured famine.

The organisation said the evidence supports a finding of persecution based on ethnic identity and that the documented acts "may be relevant to the crime of genocide".

Its investigation is continuing.

"Children were not collateral damage of this violence - often, they were deliberately targeted and have suffered immensely," Callamard said.

Sudan rights groups blame RSF paramilitary for drone strikes that hit civilians

Urgent calls for action

A final RSF offensive on El Fasher on 26 October 2025 left hundreds of civilians trying to flee executed, while many others were tortured or detained, Amnesty said.

The RSF also attacked the Saudi Maternity Hospital, a protected medical facility, in what Amnesty described as a war crime.

"A nationwide ceasefire is immediately needed," Callamard said. "An independent and adequately resourced international force must be deployed to Sudan to protect civilians against crimes by all parties to the conflict.

"The international community must move beyond statements of concern and take concrete steps to protect civilians, breaking the cycle of impunity."

Amnesty has urged all countries to stop supplying arms and ammunition to parties in the conflict.

The NGO specifically urged governments to stop providing arms to the UAE until it complies with the UN embargo, and called on the UN Security Council to expand the existing arms embargo on Darfur to the rest of Sudan.

(with newswires)