GENEVA: The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have committed numerous crimes against humanity in Sudan’s civil war, in particular in their siege of El-Fasher in western Darfur, UN investigators said Friday.
The United Nations’ fact-finding mission for Sudan determined in a new report that the RSF had “committed crimes against humanity, notably murder, torture, forced displacement, persecution on ethnic grounds, and other inhumane acts.”
It also found evidence of war crimes by both sides in the conflict between the regular army and the RSF, which has killed tens of thousands of people since it broke out in April 2023.
“Our findings leave no room for doubt: civilians are paying the highest price in this war,” mission chief Mohamed Chande Othman said in a statement.
“Both sides have deliberately targeted civilians through attacks, summary executions, arbitrary detention, torture, and inhuman treatment in detention facilities, including denial of food, sanitation, and medical care,” he said.
“These are not accidental tragedies but deliberate strategies amounting to war crimes.”
While faulting both sides in the brutal conflict, the investigators highlighted in particular the paramilitary force’s brutality in El-Fasher, which it has besieged since May 2024.
“RSF, during the siege of El-Fasher and surrounding areas, committed myriad crimes against humanity, including murder, torture, enslavement, rape, sexual slavery, sexual violence,” the statement said, also pointing to “forced displacement and persecution on ethnic, gender and political grounds.”
“The RSF and its allies used starvation as a method of warfare and deprived civilians of objects indispensable to their survival, including food, medicine and relief supplies — which may amount to the crime against humanity of extermination,” it added.
The fact-finding mission demanded international action to bring perpetrators of such crimes to justice.
“Accountability is not optional — it is a legal and moral imperative to protect civilians and prevent further atrocities,” mission member Mona Rishmawi said in the statement.
RSF commits ‘myriad crimes against humanity’ in Sudan: UN probe
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RSF commits ‘myriad crimes against humanity’ in Sudan: UN probe
- RSF had “committed crimes against humanity, notably murder, torture, forced displacement, persecution on ethnic grounds, and other inhumane acts“
- “Civilians are paying the highest price in this war,” Othman said
Hezbollah accepts resignation of senior security official Wafiq Safa amid restructuring
- Safa survived an Israeli assassination attempt in October 2024
- A source said “the resignation and its acceptance were part of an internal restructuring move“
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Hezbollah accepted the resignation of senior security official Wafiq Safa on Friday, the first time an official of his rank has stepped down, sources familiar with the group’s thinking told Reuters.
Safa, who heads Hezbollah’s liaison and coordination unit responsible for working with Lebanese security agencies, survived an Israeli assassination attempt in October 2024.
A source said “the resignation and its acceptance were part of an internal restructuring move” following losses Hezbollah sustained in last year’s war with Israel, adding that southern commander Hussein Abdullah was appointed to replace Safa.
Israel and Lebanon agreed to a US-brokered ceasefire in 2024 to end more than a year of cross-border fire between Israel and Hezbollah, which had culminated in Israeli strikes that severely weakened the Iran-backed militant group. Since then, the sides have traded accusations of ceasefire violations.
Lebanon has faced growing pressure from the US and Israel to disarm Hezbollah, and its leaders fear that Israel could dramatically escalate strikes across the battered country to push Lebanon’s leaders to confiscate Hezbollah’s arsenal more quickly.
Hezbollah has fought numerous conflicts with Israel since it was founded by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in 1982. It kept its arms after the end of Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war, using them against Israeli troops who occupied the south until 2000.
Safa, whom Middle East media reports said was born in 1960, oversaw negotiations that led to a 2008 deal in which Hezbollah exchanged the bodies of Israeli soldiers captured in 2006 for Lebanese prisoners in Israel. The 2006 incident triggered a 34-day war with Israel.
