United Kingdom’s Foreign Secretary Presents UN Fact Finding Mission Report On El Fasher.

London; February 2026: UK Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, Yvette Cooper, today – 19th February 2026 has tabled the United Nations fact finding mission report on El Fasher.

While presenting the report, Yvette Cooper has asserted that, the findings of this UN report are truly horrific, depicting a pen-picture of atrocities including systematic starvation, torture, killings, rape and deliberate ethnic targeting used on the most horrendous scale during the Rapid Support Forces siege of El Fasher. The UK has called for this report to be commissioned by the UN in November to hold perpetrators of these vile atrocities to account; while Cooper himself advocates: “I will take its conclusions to the chamber of the Security Council and ensure that the voices of women of Sudan who have endured so much are heard by the world”.

Today’s report describes the most unimaginable and chilling horrors, including people forced to choose between starvation or eating animal feed, children subjected to mass rape, civilians ambushed and slaughtered as they fled the sieged city, patients and staff killed in their hospital, perpetrators boasting of mass crimes on social media, and calling for “extermination”.  

“We need urgent action from across the international community including urgent international criminal investigations into the mounting evidence of atrocities in El Fasher to ensure accountability for vile perpetrators, justice for victims and to break the cycle of bloodshed. We urgently need an end to arms flows. Reports into breaches of the arms embargo which we agree should be extended and enforced, must be investigated. The obstructions to the Fact Finding Mission from both warring parties are shameful and unacceptable, the UN needs unimpeded access to bring atrocities and breaches to account”, said Cooper

Cooper further asserted that, “most important of all we need global action and pressure in pursuit of a ceasefire, and essential humanitarian access with support for survivors. Our response must be emphatic: the UK has sanctioned four senior RSF commanders accused of committing heinous atrocities in El Fasher. And this week we joined the US and France in proposing they will be designated in the UN too as these crimes must not go unanswered”.

The world is still failing the people of Sudan. When the stories started to emerge about the horrors of El Fasher it should have been a turning point, but the violence is continuing. “Today, in the Security Council, the UK as President will make sure the world does not look away. It is time to listen to the women of Sudan not the military men who have been prosecuting this war. We need action for justice, accountability and peace”, Cooper concluded.

Maverick News 30 has viewed the 19 pages detailed report, and presents the following excerpts drawn at the conclusion:

115 .Since the International Criminal Court issued its 2009 arrest warrant against President Omar Al-Bashir for genocide in Darfur, the question has remained before it. Our findings indicate that events in and around El-Fasher in 2025 point to renewed acts of genocide by the Rapid Support Forces.

116. The Mission concludes that the violence committed by the Rapid Support Forces in and around El-Fasher forms part of a coherent, widespread, and escalating course of conduct directed, in particular, against the Zaghawa and the Fur, in the context of a prolonged siege followed by a takeover marked by brutal atrocities.

117. The evidence establishes a widespread and systematic pattern by the Rapid Support Forces of killings, ethnically targeted rape and other forms of sexual and gender-based violence, arbitrary detention, torture and cruel treatment, enforced disappearances, extortion, and forced displacement,

combined with the deliberate imposition of conditions of life incompatible with survival, including starvation and the destruction of medical care. These acts were committed with knowledge, organisation, and repetition, and were accompanied by dehumanising and exterminatory language.

118. Taken together, the scale, severity, and cumulative impact of the acts by the Rapid Support Forces, assessed in light of patterns of targeting, conduct, and inferred intent, present indications pointing to genocide in and around El Fasher.

119. The Mission further concludes that crimes against humanity, notably extermination and persecution on ethnic, gender and political grounds, as well as war crimes, including murder, torture, rape and other forms of sexual violence, outrages upon personal dignity, starvation, and attacks against civilians, the wounded and sick, and persons hors de combat, as well as protected objects were committed. They underscore the gravity and multi-layered criminality of the conduct documented.

120.The atrocities committed in and around El-Fasher are aggravations of earlier patterns of violence in Darfur, including those previously documented by the Mission in Zamzam camp and elsewhere, demonstrating continuity and escalation. In the absence of effective prevention and accountability, the Mission considers that the risk of further genocidal violence remains acute.

121. Earlier warnings about the risk of atrocities in El-Fasher did not yield concrete results in protecting civilians. As the conflict now moves further, in particular to Kordofan, marked by the same modus operandi, the international community must act decisively to prevent further atrocities, hold the perpetrators of international crimes to account, and bring an end to this senseless violence.

122. Considering its findings, and given that the conduct documented in and around El-Fasher presents indications pointing to genocide, as well as war crimes and crimes against humanity, the Mission once again calls on the international community to act without delay to:

A. Protect civilians and prevent further atrocities, including by fully enforcing and expanding the arms embargo, preventing the transfer of weapons, equipment, financial and logistical support to parties credibly implicated in serious violations, and using all available diplomatic, political, and preventive tools to halt further mass violence.

B. Secure unrestricted humanitarian access into El-Fasher and the guarantee of free movement of the remaining civilian population there.

C. Ensure accountability and deter further crimes, including through targeted sanctions against those who aid or abet the commission of international crimes, by fully cooperating with the International Criminal Court and expanding its jurisdiction, and considering the establishment of a judicial mechanism working in tandem with the Court to advance accountability for perpetrators at all levels and ensure justice for victims.

D.Support survivors, including through interim reparatory measures and sustained access to medical, psychosocial, and legal assistance.

E.Encourage the documentation of violations and the preservation of evidence for accountability processes, including ensuring access for investigative bodies, including the Fact-Finding Missionfor the Sudan, into El-Fasher to document and preserve evidence and ascertain the fate of missing and detained persons.

F. Ensure protection for lawyers, human rights defenders, humanitarian workers, medical workers, journalists and civil society actors, who remain at grave risk.

G.End the suffering of the Sudanese people and align with their aspirations for justice, stability and prosperity in the design of any peace process and embed justice in peace processes through a comprehensive approach to transitional justice.

Team Maverick.