57 grave sites vanished in 28 days, Yale data shows

Yale’s Humanitarian Research Lab identified 150 clusters of objects consistent with human remains in el-Fasher between 26 October 2025 and 28 November 2025. The data reveals a rapid destruction of evidence, with 57 of those sites vanishing completely within four weeks. Another 20 clusters showed clear signs of burning. This analysis provides a quantified metric for the RSF’s efforts to erase the physical traces of the October offensive.

The timing aligns with the one-year anniversary of the RSF capture of the North Darfur capital. The Rapid Support Forces launched their final assault on 26 October 2025 after a siege lasting more than 500 days. Monitoring groups using satellite imagery counted at least 6,000 dead in the first 72 hours of the fighting. Approximately 260,000 people remained inside the city when the attack began. The Yale team compared the speed and scale of the killing to the Rwandan genocide.

Survivors describe a city still marked by fear and hunger. Hala, a woman who returned from the Tawila refugee camp three weeks ago to collect documents, said RSF fighters issued her a handwritten entry permit upon arrival. She reported that fighters used abusive language in the streets the following day. “There is no security in el-Fasher at all,” she told the campaign group Avaaz. She noted that women face sexual violence and that anyone refusing RSF demands risks beating or torture.

Mohamed Hassan, a resident of el-Fasher, stated that fighters executed men they judged to be army or Joint Forces soldiers. 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. In the town of Bara in North Kordofan, volunteers recovered more than 600 bodies from 200 mass graves this week. Most were civilians killed during the same October offensive.

The RSF has maintained a communications blackout and barred human rights investigators. A UN team that entered the city in December under close supervision described it as a crime scene. One in six people screened had severe acute malnutrition. RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, announced an investigation into violations by his soldiers. The UN fact-finding mission concluded in February that the RSF committed acts of genocide in el-Fasher.

Displacement continues to swell in Tawila, which now hosts around 800,000 people, most 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.

The UN mission found reasonable grounds to believe 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 UAE continues to deny backing the RSF. The United States remains the UAE’s top weapons supplier, and British weaponry has been found on Sudanese battlefields.