UN Rights Chief Condemns Deadly RSF Attack on El Fasher and Abu Shouk IDP Camp

Preliminary figures from the UN Human Rights Office indicate that at least 57 civilians were killed in the 11 August attack, including 40 IDPs in Abu Shouk camp.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk has strongly condemned the large-scale assault carried out by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on the besieged city of El Fasher and the adjacent Abu Shouk camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Sudan’s North Darfur State, describing the incident as yet another “unimaginable horror” inflicted on civilians.

Deadly Attack Amid a Year-Long Siege

Preliminary figures from the UN Human Rights Office indicate that at least 57 civilians were killed in the 11 August attack, including 40 IDPs in Abu Shouk camp. The Office is also investigating allegations that RSF fighters executed IDPs during the assault.

El Fasher, home to a large population of displaced people and one of the last remaining strongholds outside RSF control in Darfur, has been under siege for more than a year. Residents have endured repeated attacks, severe shortages of food and medicine, and collapsing humanitarian conditions.

Türk described the repeated targeting of civilians as “totally unacceptable” and warned that such attacks raise serious concerns under international humanitarian law.

Pattern of Violence Against Displaced Populations

Monday’s attack is part of a broader campaign of RSF assaults on IDP camps in and around El Fasher. Between January and June 2025, Abu Shouk camp alone was attacked at least 16 times, resulting in the deaths of 212 IDPs and injuries to 111 others.

Türk voiced alarm over the serious risk of ethnically motivated persecution as the RSF pushes to seize full control of El Fasher and Abu Shouk camp.

Testimonies of Survivors from Previous Attacks

In recent weeks, UN human rights staff travelled to eastern Chad, where they interviewed over 150 survivors of an April RSF assault on Zamzam camp. Survivors reported horrific abuses, including:

• Killings and enforced disappearances.

• Widespread rape and gang rape, often carried out publicly.

• Torture of civilians during attacks and in captivity.

They also stressed that there are no safe exit routes from El Fasher, trapping civilians in areas of active fighting.

Calls for Protection, Humanitarian Access, and Accountability

Türk reiterated his call for urgent measures to protect civilians, including safe passage for those seeking to flee conflict zones and humanitarian pauses to allow aid into besieged areas.

He urged third States to leverage their influence to halt the violations and pressed for accountability for perpetrators:

“Accountability is crucial to break this cycle of persistent and egregious violations,” he said.

Escalating Humanitarian Crisis in Darfur

The conflict in Sudan, which erupted in April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the RSF, has devastated Darfur, a region already scarred by decades of ethnic conflict and mass displacement. Aid agencies warn that without urgent intervention, mass atrocities and famine conditions could further escalate.

As fighting intensifies around El Fasher—the last major city in Darfur not under RSF control—human rights monitors fear that the civilian population, including hundreds of thousands of displaced people, faces imminent mass violence without immediate international action.