The World Health Organization (WHO) has expressed outrage following reports that Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia killed hundreds of civilians inside the main hospital in El-Fasher, just days after seizing control of the city.
WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the agency was “appalled and deeply shocked” by the reported massacre, which allegedly claimed the lives of 460 people at the Saudi Hospital.
According to the Sudan Doctors’ Network, RSF fighters “cold-bloodedly killed everyone they found inside the Saudi Hospital, including patients, caregivers, and anyone else present.” The group did not initially specify a death toll but described the city’s medical facilities as having been “turned into human slaughterhouses.”
The network also accused the RSF of abducting six healthcare workers — including four doctors, a pharmacist, and a nurse — and allegedly demanding ransoms exceeding $150,000 for their release.
Local activist group, the El-Fasher Resistance Committee, confirmed the attack, describing “a horrifying silence” that followed the killings.
El-Fasher, previously the Sudanese army’s final stronghold in the Darfur region, fell to the RSF on Sunday after an 18-month siege marked by starvation, indiscriminate shelling, and civilian suffering.
Since the conflict erupted in April 2023, the RSF and allied Arab militias have been accused of ethnically targeting non-Arab communities in Darfur — allegations the RSF continues to deny.
With the city’s fall, the United Nations and aid groups have voiced grave concern for the estimated 250,000 civilians trapped in El-Fasher, most of them from non-Arab backgrounds.
A communications blackout has made it difficult to independently verify the extent of the atrocities. However, BBC Verify has analysed recent videos posted online showing RSF fighters executing unarmed civilians in the past few days.
