This satellite image taken by Airbus DS shows two reddish stains on the ground near what are likely Rapid Support Forces vehicles in the Daraja Oula neighborhood of el-Fasher, Sudan, Monday, Oct. 27, 2025. © AIRBUS DS 2025 / AP
Fears mounted in Sudan on Tuesday, October 28, three days after paramilitaries seized the key city of El-Fasher, amid reports of mass atrocities and the killing of five Red Crescent volunteers in Kordofan. The capture of El-Fasher, the historic heart of Darfur, has sparked fears of mass killings reminiscent of the region's darkest days.
After an 18-month siege marked by starvation and bombardment, the city is now under the control of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) – descendants of the Janjaweed militias accused of genocide two decades ago. The paramilitary group, locked in a brutal war with the army since April 2023, launched a final assault on the city in recent days, seizing the army's last positions.
In the neighboring region of North Kordofan, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent said five Sudanese Red Crescent volunteers had been killed in Bara on Monday, and that three others were missing after the RSF took control of the town on Saturday. Analysts say Sudan is now effectively partitioned along an east-west axis, with the RSF running a parallel government across Darfur while the army is entrenched along the Nile and Red Sea in the north, east and center.
