The Guardian: The Sudanese massacre in El Fasher is a familiar example of predictable violence policy

The El Fasher massacre, committed by the Rapid Support Forces, had been expected for a long time. The events that the city witnessed after it fell into the hands of these forces followed a familiar pattern that had previously appeared in Sudan and other African countries such as Rwanda and Liberia, where organized massacres were committed, targeting specific ethnic groups, with the perpetrators documenting the violence they practiced themselves.

This was mentioned in a report published by the British newspaper The Guardian, written by Carlos Mureithi and Rachel Savage, in which they drew attention to the fact that in 2023, about 15,000 civilians were killed in the city of El Geneina, the capital of West Darfur state, most of them from the non-Arab Masalit group, when the Rapid Support Forces and their allied militias took control of the city.

The two writers pointed out that the fighters roamed the houses in El Geneina house by house, and completely burned the houses and camps for the displaced. In April 2025, the Rapid Support Forces killed more than 1,500 civilians within 72 hours inside Zamzam camp for displaced people, south of El Fasher city. This has led to the displacement of hundreds of thousands of civilians, while many remain missing.

Previous warnings

The report stated that humanitarian organizations and international observers warned of an imminent bloodbath 18 months ago, indicating that the analyzes were not focused on whether the massacre would occur or not, but rather when it would occur.

However, the authors say, the international community did not take any deterrent measures, and the warnings remained merely formal statements without actual implementation, whether through sanctions or real political pressure.

The report indicated that the civil war in Sudan, which broke out from the power struggle between the regular army led by Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces rebelling against the army led by Muhammad Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, led to the displacement of 13 million people by the second anniversary of the conflict, half of whom needed urgent food aid, turning the crisis into one of the worst humanitarian disasters in the world currently.

Experts say that the solution to stopping rapid support requires real international pressure on the countries supporting it, and the international community, including the United States, remains unable to move beyond formal condemnations.

And so is the army

He added that it is noteworthy that the Sudanese army itself, albeit in a smaller size, repeated the behavior of the Rapid Support Forces by not protecting civilians and leaving them vulnerable to death.

The army had previously withdrawn from cities such as El Fasher and El Geneina, leaving residents to their fate, which facilitated the mass killings, looting, and kidnappings carried out by the Rapid Support.

The authors emphasized that the Rapid Support Forces documented video clips as a tool for psychological warfare, while experts and analysts used satellite images and archival footage to confirm the occurrence of mass killings in hospitals, residential neighborhoods, and camps for displaced people, in light of an almost complete blackout of communications, which made estimating the number of victims difficult, with about 260,000 people inside El Fasher when it fell under the control of the Rapid Support, and more than 35,000 displaced people from neighboring areas.

Real international pressure is necessary

The authors also attributed the experts to saying that the solution to stopping rapid support requires real international pressure on the countries supporting it, which provide the group with weapons and logistical support, at a time when the international community, including the United States, remains unable to move beyond formal condemnations.

Korethi and Rachel concluded their report, “What happened in El Fasher today reflects the repetition of the familiar cycle of violence in Sudan, with the clear inaction of the international community, and the army’s own repetition of the behavior of the Rapid Support Forces, which makes civilians more vulnerable to killing and confirms that these massacres were completely expected.”