Sudan's Genocide is Even Worse than We Thought: El-Fasher's Catastrophic Death Toll

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Video originally published on January 17, 2026.

The city of El-Fasher, once a bustling urban center in Sudan's Darfur region, has been transformed into a ghost town following its capture and systematic destruction by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in October. What began as initial reports of approximately 60,000 deaths has evolved into a far more horrific reality, with some estimates now suggesting that as many as 100,000 people may have been slaughtered in the city alone. Beyond these staggering figures lie tens of thousands more who remain missing and unaccounted for, their fates unknown. Recent reporting from the ground has revealed that the scale of atrocities committed in El-Fasher represents one of the most devastating episodes of mass killing in the ongoing Sudanese conflict, prompting observers to characterize the systematic violence as genocide. The phrase that has emerged to describe what happened captures the horror with chilling simplicity: "This is how you murder a city."

Key Takeaways

El-Fasher, a major city in Sudan's Darfur region, was captured and systematically destroyed by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in October, transforming it into a ghost town.

Initial casualty estimates of approximately 60,000 deaths have been revised upward, with some assessments now suggesting as many as 100,000 people may have been killed in El-Fasher alone.

Tens of thousands of residents remain missing and unaccounted for, suggesting the true death toll may be even higher than current estimates.

The systematic nature and scale of violence has led observers to characterize the events in El-Fasher as genocide, with the phrase 'This is how you murder a city' capturing the comprehensive destruction.

The RSF's October campaign involved not just military capture but systematic destruction of the city's population, infrastructure, and social fabric.

New reporting continues to reveal that the humanitarian catastrophe in Sudan is worse than previously understood, with each wave of information uncovering additional atrocities.

The Fall of El-Fasher: From Urban Center to Ghost Town

El-Fasher's transformation from a functioning city to an abandoned wasteland represents one of the most dramatic and tragic collapses in the Sudanese conflict. When the Rapid Support Forces captured the city in October, they didn't simply occupy it—they systematically destroyed it. The city that once served as a regional hub in Darfur has been reduced to a ghost town, its streets emptied of the civilian population that once called it home. Recent reporting from journalists and humanitarian observers who have managed to access the area paints a picture of near-total devastation, with entire neighborhoods abandoned and the infrastructure of urban life dismantled or destroyed. The phrase "ghost town" barely captures the eerie silence that now pervades what was once a bustling center of commerce, governance, and daily life. The speed and completeness of El-Fasher's destruction stands as a testament to the systematic nature of the violence inflicted upon it.

Revising the Death Toll: From 60,000 to Potentially 100,000

The evolution of casualty estimates for El-Fasher reveals the difficulty of documenting atrocities in real-time and the tendency for initial reports to underestimate the true scale of mass killing. When news of the massacre first emerged, reports suggested that approximately 60,000 people had been killed in the city—a figure that was already staggering in its magnitude. However, as more information has filtered out from the region and as investigators have been able to piece together a more complete picture of what transpired, these estimates have been revised dramatically upward. Some assessments now suggest that the death toll may be as high as 100,000 people, representing a nearly 70% increase over initial estimates. This revision reflects both the challenges of counting casualties in an active conflict zone and the systematic nature of the killing, which may have been more extensive than observers initially realized. The fact that estimates continue to rise suggests that even the current figure of 100,000 may not represent the final accounting of those who lost their lives in El-Fasher.

The Missing: Tens of Thousands Unaccounted For

Beyond the horrific death toll that has been documented or estimated, tens of thousands of El-Fasher's residents remain missing and unaccounted for. These individuals represent another dimension of the humanitarian catastrophe—people whose fates remain unknown to their families and to the international community. The missing may include those who were killed but whose bodies have not been found or documented, those who fled the city and became separated from their families in the chaos of displacement, those who may be held in detention by the RSF or other armed groups, and potentially victims of forced disappearances. The large number of missing persons suggests that the true death toll in El-Fasher may be even higher than current estimates indicate. It also represents an ongoing source of trauma for the families and communities affected, who are left without closure or certainty about the fate of their loved ones. The scale of the missing population—measured in tens of thousands—indicates that the documentation of what happened in El-Fasher remains incomplete and that the full accounting of the atrocity may take years to establish.

Characterizing the Violence: The Question of Genocide

The systematic nature and scale of the killing in El-Fasher has led observers to characterize the violence as genocide. This designation carries significant legal and moral weight, indicating not just mass killing but the intentional destruction of a group of people based on their identity. The use of the term genocide in relation to El-Fasher and the broader Sudanese conflict reflects several factors: the targeting of specific ethnic and community groups, the systematic nature of the violence rather than isolated incidents, the scale of killing that suggests an intent to destroy communities rather than simply defeat military opponents, and the pattern of atrocities that includes not just killing but also displacement, sexual violence, and the destruction of the means of survival. The phrase that has emerged to describe what happened—"This is how you murder a city"—captures the comprehensive nature of the destruction inflicted on El-Fasher. It suggests not just the killing of individuals but the deliberate annihilation of an entire urban community, including its social fabric, its institutions, and its future. The characterization of events in El-Fasher as genocide places them within the most serious category of international crimes and suggests that accountability mechanisms should be pursued at the highest levels.

The RSF's October Campaign: Capture and Systematic Destruction

The Rapid Support Forces' capture of El-Fasher in October was not simply a military operation but the beginning of a campaign of systematic destruction. The RSF, a paramilitary force that evolved from the Janjaweed militias responsible for earlier atrocities in Darfur, approached the city not as territory to be held and governed but as a target for elimination. The October timeframe is significant as it marks the beginning of what would become one of the deadliest episodes in the ongoing Sudanese civil war. The RSF's actions in El-Fasher followed a pattern that has been documented in other areas under their control: initial military assault followed by systematic violence against civilians, widespread looting and destruction of property, targeting of specific ethnic and community groups, and the creation of conditions that make it impossible for displaced populations to return. The fact that the city was not just captured but "sacked"—a term that evokes historical episodes of urban destruction—indicates the comprehensive nature of the violence and destruction inflicted upon it.

New Reporting Reveals Worsening Reality

The upward revision of casualty estimates and the emerging details about the scale of destruction in El-Fasher reflect the role of new reporting in revealing the true extent of Sudan's humanitarian catastrophe. As journalists, humanitarian workers, and investigators have gained access to affected areas or have been able to compile testimony from survivors and witnesses, the picture that has emerged is consistently worse than initial assessments suggested. This pattern of revelation—where each new wave of reporting uncovers additional atrocities or higher casualty figures—indicates that the international community's understanding of what is happening in Sudan has been incomplete and that the crisis may be significantly worse than is generally recognized. The new reporting from El-Fasher specifically has forced a reconsideration of the scale of violence in the Sudanese conflict and has raised questions about whether other episodes of mass killing may similarly have been underestimated. The fact that estimates have risen from 60,000 to potentially 100,000 deaths in a single city suggests that the overall death toll for the Sudanese civil war may need to be revised significantly upward.

The Broader Context: Sudan's Ongoing Humanitarian Catastrophe

The massacre in El-Fasher, while extraordinary in its scale, represents just one episode in Sudan's broader humanitarian catastrophe. The civil war that has engulfed the country has created one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, with millions displaced, widespread famine conditions, systematic sexual violence, and mass killings across multiple regions. El-Fasher's significance lies partly in the scale of killing concentrated in a single location, but also in what it reveals about the nature of the conflict and the tactics being employed by armed groups, particularly the RSF. The city's destruction demonstrates that the violence in Sudan has moved beyond conventional military conflict into systematic campaigns of civilian destruction that meet the definition of genocide. The international community's limited response to the crisis in Sudan, despite the mounting evidence of atrocities, raises questions about the effectiveness of humanitarian intervention and genocide prevention mechanisms. El-Fasher's fate also highlights the particular vulnerability of urban populations in the Sudanese conflict, as cities that might have been expected to offer some protection through their size and infrastructure have instead become sites of concentrated violence.

Documentation Challenges and the True Scale of Atrocities

The significant upward revision of casualty estimates for El-Fasher highlights the immense challenges involved in documenting atrocities in active conflict zones. The initial estimate of 60,000 deaths was already based on incomplete information, gathered under dangerous conditions by observers with limited access to the affected area. The subsequent revision to potentially 100,000 deaths reflects improved documentation, additional testimony from survivors, and a more complete understanding of the scope of the violence. However, even this higher figure may not represent the final accounting. The tens of thousands who remain missing and unaccounted for suggest that the true death toll could be higher still. The documentation challenges are compounded by several factors: the RSF's control of the area limits access for independent investigators, survivors have been scattered across Sudan and neighboring countries, making systematic testimony collection difficult, mass graves and other evidence may be deliberately concealed or destroyed, and the ongoing nature of the conflict makes comprehensive forensic investigation impossible. These challenges mean that the international community may not know the full truth about what happened in El-Fasher for years or even decades, if ever.

"This is How You Murder a City": Understanding Systematic Urban Destruction

The phrase "This is how you murder a city" encapsulates the comprehensive nature of what happened to El-Fasher. It suggests that what occurred was not simply a massacre of individuals but the deliberate killing of an entire urban entity—its people, its institutions, its social fabric, and its future. The concept of murdering a city involves several dimensions: the physical killing of a substantial portion of the population, the forced displacement of survivors, making return impossible, the destruction of infrastructure necessary for urban life, the elimination of governance structures and institutions, the targeting of cultural and religious sites that give the city its identity, and the creation of conditions that prevent the city from being rebuilt or repopulated. El-Fasher's transformation into a ghost town represents the completion of this process. The city no longer functions as a living community but exists only as a physical space emptied of the human activity that gave it meaning. This systematic approach to urban destruction has historical precedents in other genocides and campaigns of ethnic cleansing, where the goal extends beyond military victory to the permanent elimination of a community's presence in a particular place. The phrase serves as both a description of what happened and an indictment of the intentional, systematic nature of the violence.

International Response and the Failure of Genocide Prevention

The catastrophe in El-Fasher raises profound questions about the international community's ability and willingness to prevent genocide and protect civilian populations in conflict zones. Despite the mounting evidence of systematic atrocities in Sudan, including the massacre in El-Fasher, the international response has been limited and largely ineffective. The upward revision of casualty estimates from 60,000 to potentially 100,000 deaths occurred without triggering significant international intervention or even sustained diplomatic pressure on the parties to the conflict. This failure reflects several factors: the complexity of the Sudanese conflict and the difficulty of identifying clear intervention strategies, competing geopolitical interests that limit consensus on international action, the limited capacity of international institutions to respond to multiple simultaneous crises, and the general reluctance of the international community to commit resources to humanitarian intervention in Africa. The case of El-Fasher demonstrates that the international norm of "responsibility to protect" civilian populations from mass atrocities remains more aspirational than operational. The fact that a city can be systematically destroyed and tens of thousands or potentially 100,000 people can be killed without triggering effective international response suggests fundamental weaknesses in the global architecture for genocide prevention and humanitarian protection.

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FAQ

What happened to El-Fasher?

El-Fasher, once a bustling urban center in Sudan's Darfur region, was captured by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in October and systematically destroyed. The city has been transformed into a ghost town, with its population killed, displaced, or missing, and its infrastructure dismantled or destroyed.

How many people were killed in El-Fasher?

Initial reports suggested approximately 60,000 people were killed in El-Fasher. However, as more information has emerged, some estimates now suggest the death toll may be as high as 100,000 people. Tens of thousands more remain missing and unaccounted for, meaning the true toll could be even higher.

Why have casualty estimates increased so dramatically?

The upward revision from 60,000 to potentially 100,000 deaths reflects the difficulty of documenting atrocities in real-time conflict zones. As journalists, humanitarian workers, and investigators have gained better access and compiled more testimony from survivors, a more complete picture has emerged revealing the violence was more extensive than initially realized.

Who are the Rapid Support Forces (RSF)?

The RSF is a paramilitary force that evolved from the Janjaweed militias responsible for earlier atrocities in Darfur. They captured El-Fasher in October and conducted a campaign of systematic destruction against the city and its population.

Why is the violence in El-Fasher being called genocide?

Observers characterize the violence as genocide due to several factors: the targeting of specific ethnic and community groups, the systematic rather than isolated nature of the violence, the scale of killing suggesting intent to destroy communities, and the pattern of atrocities including displacement, sexual violence, and destruction of means of survival.

What does 'This is how you murder a city' mean?

This phrase describes the comprehensive destruction of El-Fasher—not just killing individuals but deliberately annihilating an entire urban community including its people, social fabric, institutions, infrastructure, and future. It captures the systematic approach to eliminating the city as a functioning entity.

What happened to the people who are missing?

The tens of thousands of missing people may include those killed whose bodies haven't been found, those who fled and became separated from families, those held in detention by armed groups, or victims of forced disappearances. Their fates remain unknown to their families and the international community.

How does El-Fasher fit into Sudan's broader conflict?

While extraordinary in scale, the El-Fasher massacre represents one episode in Sudan's broader humanitarian catastrophe, which includes millions displaced, widespread famine conditions, systematic sexual violence, and mass killings across multiple regions. It demonstrates that violence has moved beyond conventional military conflict into systematic campaigns of civilian destruction.

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About the Author

Morris M.

**Morris M.** creates and presents analysis focused on military doctrine, strategic competition, and conflict dynamics.

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