In brief
As civilian casualties reportedly mount following the RSF's capture of El-Fasher in Sudan, the group's leader, Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, has promised an investigation into violations by his forces. This comes in the wake of international outrage and documentation of mass killings, raising urgent calls for accountability and humanitarian intervention. The UN and other international bodies stress the dire need for protection for civilians amidst this humanitarian crisis.
The leader of Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has declared an investigation into what he called violations committed by his soldiers during the capture of el-Fasher.The announcement by Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, came after escalating reports of civilian killings following the RSF takeover of the city in the Darfur region on Sunday.He spoke after international outrage about reports of mass killings in el-Fasher, apparently documented by his paramilitary fighters in social media videos.The RSF has since released footage which they say shows the arrest of a fighter accused of carrying out executions in el-Fasher.Footage previously verified by BBC Verify showed the man, who goes by the name Abu Lulu online, shooting unarmed people in an area outside el-Fasher. The video posted by the RSF confirmed the arrest of a fighter led from a vehicle to a cell.However, UN humanitarian official Tom Fletcher condemned the RSF's assurances of civilian protection, calling for accountability for those responsible for the violence. Meanwhile, humanitarian conditions in the region remain dire, with reports of over 460 civilians killed in a single hospital assault.British officials and other nations have condemned the violence as a humanitarian crisis exacerbated by ethnic targeting.As calls for investigations and humanitarian corridors intensify, the RSF's previous promises have been noted as often unfulfilled, leading to skepticism about future accountability.
