‘Hallmarks of genocide’ — UN strengthens language on Sudan

The United Nations (UN) has strengthened its language on Sudan. The international body said the foreign-backed war has a genocidal character. The move is welcome, but too late for the tens of thousands who’ve been murdered.

Genocidal intent

The three-year conflict between the Sudanese government, backed by Egypt and Turkey among other states, and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), heavily reliant on arms from the UAE, has displaced and killed millions.

The RSF and allied militias are known for acting out their “racist Arab supremacist” ideology against non-Arab populations, murdered and ethnically cleansed from certain areas to maintain an Arab majority.

UN fact-finder Mona Rishmawi said on 18 February:

The body of evidence we collected — including the prolonged siege, starvation and denial of humanitarian assistance, followed by mass killings, rape, torture and enforced disappearance, systematic humiliation and perpetrators’ own declarations — leaves only one reasonable inference.

Rishmawi said:

The RSF acted with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, the Zaghawa and Fur communities in El-Fasher. These are the hallmarks of genocide.

The UN also launched a major humanitarian appeal to support the millions of Sudanese left starving and displaced by the ongoing war. It said that the:

Sudan Regional Refugee Response Plan (2026) aims to deliver lifesaving assistance this year to 5.9 million people across seven neighbouring countries: the Central African Republic, Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia, Libya, South Sudan and Uganda.

The plan will continue to prioritize aid for roughly 470,000 new refugees who are expected to cross into these countries, as well as thousands more who remain in border areas and have received only the most basic assistance.

El Fasher massacre

A report released by the UN on 19 February detailed the El Fasher massacre carried out by RSF in October 2025. The southern city was besieged by RSF for months. When it fell RSF massacred civilians wholesale.

The evidence gathered since:

Establishes that at least three underlying acts of genocide were committed: “killing members of a protected ethnic group; causing serious bodily and mental harm; and deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the group’s physical destruction in whole or in part.”

Mohamed Chande Othman, chair of the mission, said:

The scale, coordination, and public endorsement of the operation by senior RSF leadership demonstrate that the crimes committed in and around El Fasher were not random excesses of war.

They formed part of a planned and organized operation that bears the defining characteristics of genocide.

As the Canary has previously reported, British military equipment has turned up in RSF hands.

The UK is a major supplier to the UAE. In turn, the UAE is supplying the RSF. The UAE is pursuing resources (not least, gold) and control in Sudan as part of its increasingly colonial regional aims. And you can read about Israel’s dangerously under-reported role in the war here.

International bodies have been slow to respond to the crisis in Sudan. They are finally admitting there is an active genocide in Sudan. And, just like in Gaza, the British are playing a role in the slaughter.

Featured image via the Canary