Saudi Arabia calls out RSF over Al Fasher atrocities, demands aid access
Riyadh backs UN rights chief as pressure mounts over Darfur abuses and blocked humanitarian relief.
Saudi Arabia has urged Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to immediately halt what it called grave and ongoing violations against civilians, as international scrutiny intensifies over atrocities in the Darfur region.
The call was made late on Monday during an interactive session in Geneva following a briefing by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk on the deteriorating human rights situation in and around Al Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, according to the Saudi Press Agency.
Turk told the session that responsibility for the “atrocities” committed in Al Fasher lies “entirely” with the RSF and their allies and backers, citing attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure.
In a statement delivered by Saudi Arabia’s permanent representative to the UN in Geneva, Ambassador Abdulmohsen bin Khothaila, Riyadh condemned RSF assaults on Al Fasher in October 2025.
It denounced what it described as criminal attacks on health facilities, aid convoys, and civilian sites that killed dozens of displaced people, including women and children.
‘Comply with international humanitarian law’
Saudi Arabia stressed that the RSF bears a moral and humanitarian obligation to ensure safe and unhindered access for aid deliveries, calling on the group to comply with international humanitarian law.
Riyadh also reaffirmed its support for Sudan’s unity, security and stability, and the preservation of its legitimate state institutions.
The RSF seized control of Al Fasher on October 26, 2025, and has since been accused by local and international organisations of carrying out massacres against civilians.
Fighting has expanded in recent weeks across Sudan’s North, West and South Kordofan states, displacing tens of thousands more people as clashes between the RSF and the Sudanese army intensify.
Sudan’s government has also accused the RSF of targeting a World Food Programme aid convoy with drones in North Kordofan, killing people and destroying vital humanitarian supplies.
The conflict, which erupted in April 2023 over plans to integrate the RSF into the national army, has plunged Sudan into one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, killing tens of thousands and forcing around 13 million people from their homes.