Sudan: Satellite images show most el-Fasher civilians likely still trapped

Less than a week after the Rapid Support Forces' (RSF) seizure of Sudan's el-Fasher, mass killings are continuing, and hundreds of thousands of civilians are feared either "trapped or dead".

The Yale School of Public Health's Humanitarian Research Lab (Yale HRL) published its third report on Friday analysing satellite imagery since Sudan's paramilitary took control of el-Fasher in Darfur five days earlier. 

The analysis found that there had not been large-scale movements of people out of the city, as would be consistent with civilian flight from a newly seized area. 

It raised "the likelihood that the majority of civilians are dead, captured or in hiding," the report stated. 

Yale HRL contrasted the current situation with the capture of the Zamzam camp for displaced people, 15km south of el-Fasher, in April.

At that time, there were several indicators that the roughly 500,000 people in the camp fled in multiple directions on foot and using donkey carts. The RSF subsequently razed the camp.

"No visible indicators near that scale of displacement appear in satellite imagery" of el-Fasher in recent days, Yale HRL found.

At the time of the RSF's capture of el-Fasher, 260,000 people were estimated to be living there. It was the last city in Darfur to fall into paramilitary hands, after its inhabitants had been under siege for more than 500 days.

🚨ATROCITY ALERT 🚨

1) Most remaining civilians have not fled El Fasher - likely trapped or dead
2) RSF continues mass killings
3) Displaced people visible in Garni, location of reported gross human rights abuses. #KeepEyesOnSudan
🛰️@vantortech @AirbusDShttps://t.co/1HApllgfVx pic.twitter.com/FhfWkPFaVL

— Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL) at YSPH (@HRL_YaleSPH) November 1, 2025

The RSF carried out mass killings and abuses as it stormed the city, some of which were documented by its own fighters and have been corroborated by satellite imagery.

On Friday, the International Organization for Migration reported that 36,000 people had fled so far, mostly by foot to the nearby town of Tawila. 

But that accounts for only 14 percent of the estimated population. The fate of most others is not known.

On 28 October, Yale HRL analysed satellite images in Daraja Oula - which had been the largest civilian refuge in el-Fasher - of clusters of objects that resembled bodies, as well as reddish ground discolouration.

The images were consistent with reports that the RSF went door-to-door massacring scores of civilians. The objects and discolouration were not visible prior to the paramilitary takeover.

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The analysis found the presence of armoured vehicles in Daraja Oula, consistent with RSF vehicles, in the areas where house-to-house operations reportedly took place.

It found a change in the posture and activity of such vehicles: earlier in the week, they were being used to block roads and control foot and vehicle traffic.

By Friday, the vehicles were still there but lower in volume and less tactically positioned to control movements. 

"This may be consistent with the fact that there may be far fewer people present to capture and kill," the report said. 

Earlier this week, satellite imagery corroborated reports that the RSF killed civilians trying to flee the city near the earthen wall - a makeshift barrier constructed around the city in recent months.

Video footage reviewed by Middle East Eye shows several dead bodies and people being killed near an earthen wall.

A survivor, now in the nearby city of Tawila, said the RSF separated men and women trying to flee the city. Some of the men were shot in front of the women, while others were put in trucks and taken away. 

Videos posted on social media showed RSF militiamen chasing and shooting people attempting to flee el-Fasher.

On 31 October, Yale HRL corroborated open source reports and video footage showing that the RSF destroyed vehicles attempting to flee el-Fasher via the earthen wall.

It found 28 destroyed vehicles in satellite images, with objects resembling bodies visible on the ground nearby.

Mass killings continue

The satellite imagery appears to further confirm that mass killings are continuing apace in el-Fasher. 

Overnight on Wednesday, a graphic video emerged online purportedly showing RSF-aligned fighters shooting wounded people, and surrounded by bodies, at el-Fasher University's medical science laboratory building.

Yale HRL has now confirmed the sighting of five clusters of objects resembling bodies visible outside the building, which had not been present two days earlier. 

The researchers also identified evidence of mass killings at el-Fasher's 271st Air Defence Brigade, where burnt objects the size of humans are visible where there had been groups of people a day earlier.

Clusters of objects consistent with bodies were visible in multiple areas in the Daraja Oula refuge neighbourhood too, including near the offices of a number of local and international NGOs.

The research also found the presence of newly visible objects resembling bodies near the earthen defensive wall, with new reddish discolouration. 

"The increase in objects may be indicative of additional mass killings or moving bodies for body disposal," it said. 

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Notably, the latest report by Yale HRL found visible changes in satellite imagery at areas with objects resembling mass bodies. 

It found that these objects had either been partly or wholly removed, dispersed, and that some reddish discolouration had faded. 

"These activities all further corroborate the initial assessment that these objects may be consistent with dead bodies," the report said. 

Yale HRL noted that the changes were consistent with body disposal, or of animals scavenging for bodies.

The fading discolouration also corroborates the assessment that the objects are dead bodies: red discolouration from large pools of blood fade in satellite imagery over time. 

Elsewhere, the satellite images show that some people have fled to the nearby town of Garni, 11km outside of el-Fasher, where they have built temporary structures.

Since July, the RSF has used Garni as a hub to displace people from el-Fasher. 

Reuters reported on Friday, citing witnesses, that paramilitary fighters separated women and children from men who fled to Garni. The men have not been seen since.

The Sudan war erupted in April 2023, when long-simmering tensions between Sudan's army, led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the RSF, commanded by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, spiralled into open conflict.

The violence was triggered by disagreements over plans to integrate the RSF into the regular army, but quickly evolved into a nationwide war that has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced more than 13 million.

MEE reported in January 2024 that the UAE was supplying the RSF with weapons through a complex network of supply lines and alliances stretching across Libya, Chad, Uganda and breakaway regions of Somalia.

Since the war began, RSF fighters have been accused of widespread massacres and abuses, including a genocide in Darfur. The SAF have also been accused of war crimes.