C4ADS Tracking Reported Atrocities in Al Fasher Through Sudan Shahid

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — On October 28, 2025, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) reportedly claimed full control of the Sudanese city of Al Fasher following an 18-month siege that culminated in the withdrawal of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF). Eyewitnesses and news media from North Darfur report mass atrocities, including mass executions of civilians, attacks on humanitarian convoys, and targeting of civilians based on ethnicity. The United Nations has warned that the risk of large-scale atrocities in Darfur—and in Al Fasher in particular—grows by the day, with hundreds of civilians potentially killed in the takeover’s immediate aftermath. This escalation marks a critical juncture in Sudan’s ongoing conflict, exacerbating the world’s largest displacement crisis and deepening famine conditions across the region.

C4ADS supports Sudanese civil society through various accountability initiatives. Since the conflict began in April 2023, C4ADS has worked to document its human cost through open-source intelligence and collaborative monitoring. Our Sudan Shahid conflict map, developed in collaboration with the Centre for Information Resilience and the Sudan Human Rights Hub, helps users to collect, verify, and analyze geolocated visual evidence of atrocities. Since its launch, Sudan Shahid has mapped thousands of incidents onto an interactive map that empowers investigators, policymakers, and human rights advocates to hold perpetrators accountable for violating international law.

Sudan Shahid not only captures incidents for near real-time analysis, but also documents incidents in ways that allow researchers to identify trends. It is a comprehensive resource for viewing and studying the war’s development, and for supporting sanctions designations, criminal court investigations, and international accountability efforts, including enforcement of the UN’s arms embargo on Darfur and the EU’s arms embargo on Sudan.

“Today’s events in Al Fasher underscore the urgent need for real-time monitoring to prevent impunity in Sudan’s conflict, and to concretely pursue justice for victims” said C4ADS Program Director Denise Sprimont-Vasquez. “Our work takes a ‘whole-of-war’ approach to supporting an end to the conflict. We will continue to support law enforcement and civil society with investigations that pursue every avenue of justice—from imports of military goods to the military takeover of the economy.”

By tracking everything from resource exploitation chains to weapons suppliers, C4ADS continues its commitment to advancing the work of Sudanese civil society.

For more details on Sudan Shahid and our work on Sudan, please visit the relevant page on our website. To ensure you never miss an update from us, follow us across social media and sign up for our monthly Inside Innovation newsletter.