Inside the secret battle to document RSF abuses in Sudan
Sudan's National Commission for Human Rights is conducting covert documentation of alleged atrocities committed by the Rapid Support Forces in Darfur, including mass executions, sexual violence, and ethnic cleansing. The organization has recorded nearly 4,000 cases of sexual violence and documented evidence of mass graves in multiple cities.
In Sudan's Darfur region, a human rights monitoring network is working clandestinely to document alleged systematic abuses perpetrated by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) during their ongoing conflict with the Sudanese Armed Forces. Operating under severe security constraints, field teams affiliated with Sudan's National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR) are gathering evidence of mass disappearances, village destruction, sexual violence, and property looting across RSF-controlled territory.
The operational environment for these monitors is extraordinarily dangerous. Teams rely on basic mobile phones and secure communication networks to document incidents while avoiding detection in areas where opposition activity is actively suppressed. According to Rahmatullah Mohammedin Abakar, director of the NCHR's Darfur division, the monitoring teams persist despite extreme security threats, driven by institutional commitment to their human rights mandate. The teams have identified a systematic pattern of ethnically-targeted violence affecting civilians throughout RSF-controlled cities.
The scale of documented abuses is substantial. The NCHR has recorded nearly 4,000 cases of sexual violence across Darfur, with approximately 20 percent of victims being girls under 18 years old. Abakar has characterized RSF mass executions as amounting to genocide, and the organization possesses documentation of mass graves in el-Geneina and el-Fasher, cities captured by the RSF in 2023 and 2025 respectively.
The NCHR's grassroots documentation aligns with findings from international investigations. A UN fact-finding mission concluded that the RSF's systematic violence during and after its siege of el-Fasher constituted genocide, documenting mass killings, gang rapes, and deliberate civilian starvation as policy. Amnesty International has similarly accused the RSF of crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing in el-Fasher between early 2024 and October 2025, noting severe restrictions on humanitarian aid during the prolonged siege.
Bell tracks these organizations in depth — profiles, people, signals, and history. See them inside Bell →
Provenance on every fact. Sovereign-grade by design.