Displaced Sudanese gather after fleeing Al-Fashir city in Darfur, in Tawila, Sudan, Oct. 29, 2025, in this still image taken from a Reuters’ video. Photo: REUTERS/Mohamed Jamal

Members of the UN Human Rights Council on Friday adopted a resolution for an independent fact–finding mission to investigate reported mass killings in al-Fashir, Sudan.

At a special session of the Council in Geneva on the situation in the city in Darfur which fell to paramilitary forces in October, the text passed without a vote – a strong sign of international support.

The fact–finding mission will also seek to identify the perpetrators of violations allegedly committed by the Rapid Support Forces and their allies in al-Fashir.

The ambassador of the permanent mission of the United Kingdom in Geneva said the fact–finding mission would document and preserve evidence of violations, which would lay the ground for future justice and accountability.

In an opening address to delegates, the UN human rights chief urged the international community to act.

“There has been too much pretense and performance, and too little action. It must stand up against these atrocities – a display of naked cruelty used to subjugate and control an entire population,” UN High Commissioner for human rights Volker Turk said.

The RSF has denied targeting civilians or blocking aid, saying such activities are due to rogue actors.

UN RIGHTS CHIEF WARNS OF SURGING VIOLENCE IN KORDOFAN

Turk also called for action against individuals and companies “fueling and profiting” from the war in Sudan, and gave a stark warning about surging violence in the central Sudanese region of Kordofan, with bombardments, blockades, and people forced from their homes.

Kordofan is a region comprised of three states that serves as a buffer between the RSF’s western Darfur strongholds and the army-held states in the east.

The fall of al-Fashir to the RSF on Oct. 26 cemented its control of the Darfur region in the more than 2-1/2-year civil war with the Sudanese army.

The UN refugee agency said on Friday that tens of thousands of people who have fled al-Fashir are unaccounted for, raising concerns for their safety after reports of rape, killings, and other abuses from escapees.

While the UN agency has recorded that nearly 100,000 people fled the city since the takeover, only around 10,000 have been counted at arrival hubs like Tawila, said Jacqueline Wilma Parlevliet, UNHCR’s Head of Sub Office from Port Sudan.

“A significant number of people on the move [are] stranded somewhere, not able to move further, because of the danger, or because they risk being sent back into al-Fashir, or because there are very vulnerable people amongst the group,” she told a Geneva press briefing.

Their journeys are becoming longer and more perilous as people increasingly shun well-trodden routes to avoid armed checkpoints, she said.

Some have traveled as far as 1,000 kilometers (660 miles) to Ad Dabba in Northern State.

It is unclear how many people remain in al-Fashir, with local sources telling UNHCR that thousands are either prevented from leaving or lacking the means or strength to flee, according to the UNHCR.

The draft text up for consideration by the UN Human Rights Council, seen by Reuters, strongly condemns the reported ethnically motivated killing and use of rape as a weapon of war by the RSF and allied forces in al-Fashir.

Mona Rishmawi, a member of the UN’s Independent International Fact–Finding Mission for Sudan described examples of rape, killing, and torture and said a comprehensive investigation is required to establish the full picture.

She said RSF forces had “turned Al Fasher University into a killing ground” where thousands of civilians had been sheltering. Witnesses also recounted seeing bodies piling in the streets and trenches dug in and around the city, Rishmawi said.

The proposed resolution stops short of mandating an investigation into the role of external actors who may be supporting the RSF, which the ambassador to the permanent mission of Sudan in Geneva criticized, saying that his country faced an “existential war” following the international community’s failure to act.

“We were warning all over the UN … calling for pressure on the rebel militia and the country that is sponsoring it with military equipment – I mean the UAE,” Hassan Hamid Hassan said.

UAE VIGOROUSLY DENIES SUPPORT FOR RSF

Sudan‘s army has accused the United Arab Emirates of supplying the RSF with weapons, a claim which UN experts and US lawmakers have found credible. The UAE ambassador to the UN in Geneva Jamal Al Musharakh on Thursday categorically rejected claims that it provides support in any form to either of the warring parties.

The United Kingdom, the European Union, Norway, and Ghana expressed support for the resolution, strongly condemning the violence in Sudan, which they warned could threaten regional stability.

The resolution also calls for the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces to allow life-saving aid to reach the many people who may still be trapped inside the famine-struck city.

Women fleeing the city have reported killings and systematic rape while others have described civilians being shot in the streets and attacked in drone strikes.