UN Report Accuses RSF of Genocide in El-Fasher, Citing Yale's Satellite Evidence

The United Nations Independent Fact-Finding Mission for Sudan has concluded that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) committed genocide against non-Arab Indigenous ethnic groups during their 18-month siege and subsequent capture of El-Fasher. This determination heavily relies on satellite imagery analysis provided by the Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL) at the Yale School of Public Health.

In July 2023, the Yale HRL alerted the U.S. Government, the public, and the UN Security Council about the potential for a genocidal massacre if El-Fasher fell to the RSF. Throughout the siege and after the city's fall in October 2025, the HRL produced over 65 reports documenting mass killings and other atrocities targeting the Fur, Zaghawa, and other Indigenous non-Arab populations.

The UN report, titled "Sudan: Hallmarks of Genocide in El-Fasher," draws extensively from HRL's satellite imagery and open-source information, including news reports and social media posts. It concludes that the RSF exhibited "specific intent" to commit genocide and engaged in actions consistent with that intent.

Danielle Poole, a research scientist in epidemiology at Yale and faculty director at HRL, emphasized the significance of remote public health monitoring in conflict zones. "Today's report by the UN demonstrates the unique and essential role that remote public health monitoring of conflict can play in both warning of alleged mass atrocity crimes, including genocide, and corroborating that they have occurred," she stated.

Yale HRL's contributions include detecting the RSF's construction of an earthen wall, known as the berm, which trapped civilians inside El-Fasher. The lab also confirmed mass killings of civilians following the city's fall, identifying 150 groups of objects consistent with human bodies, some burned and buried by RSF forces.

Omer Gamar-Eldin Ismail, a senior adviser at HRL and former acting minister of foreign affairs of Sudan, expressed personal anguish over the findings. "I was born in El-Fasher, and the people who were murdered, raped, tortured, starved, and displaced are my friends, family, and neighbors," he said. "This report is a step toward justice, but we must also all be accountable for the world's collective failure to stop a crime that was accurately predicted by Yale HRL years before it occurred."

A UN Human Rights Office report published on February 13 estimated that the RSF killed at least 6,000 people in the first 72 hours following El-Fasher's takeover. On the same day, the U.S. Department of the Treasury sanctioned three RSF commanders for their roles in the siege and capture of El-Fasher, citing a campaign of ethnic killings, torture, starvation, and sexual violence.

The conflict in Sudan's Darfur region has led to the displacement of hundreds of thousands of civilians and is considered one of the most perilous humanitarian catastrophes globally. Yale HRL continues to monitor the ongoing conflict between the Sudan Armed Forces and the RSF throughout Sudan.