RSF commander apologises to El-Fasher residents after civilian killings, claims control serves ‘Sudan’s unity’

Commander of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, has apologised to residents of El Fasher following reports of massacres and widespread civilian killings carried out by his forces during their recent takeover of the city.

In a video message released Wednesday on his official Telegram channel—three days after the RSF seized control of El Fasher, the last Sudanese army stronghold in the Darfur region—Dagalo said he “apologises to the people of El Fasher for the catastrophe that befell them.”

He added, “We were forced into this war; it was imposed upon us. But the liberation of El Fasher is in favour of Sudan’s unity—peacefully or through war.”

Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, described his forces as “people of peace,” urging fighters to refrain from harming civilians. “Killing a captured soldier is forbidden,” he said. “As for civilians, you have no business with them.”

The RSF commander announced the formation of accountability committees in El Fasher to investigate alleged abuses, saying, “We stand with the law and with-holding those who erred accountable,” though he provided no further details.

Reports from witnesses, local activists, and international organizations, corroborated by satellite imagery, indicate that RSF fighters carried out massacres and widespread ethnic killings of civilians following the city’s capture.

The European Union on Wednesday condemned what it described as the “brutality” of the RSF and its “ethnic targeting” of civilians, while the United Nations warned of an escalating risk of ethnically motivated violations and atrocities in the region.

The fall of El Fasher marks a significant shift in Sudan’s ongoing civil war, effectively giving the RSF full control of Darfur and further deepening fears of a humanitarian catastrophe.

READ: European countries call for de-escalation in Sudan after RSF seizes El-Fasher