Translated by Irene Cecchi
To understand the genocide of the Masalit, one must start with the broader context of the conflict in Sudan, where in April 2023 a new civil war broke out between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group that emerged from the Janjaweed militias. It was these very Janjaweed militias that, in the early 2000s, were accused of genocide in Darfur: non-Arab villages were razed, tens of thousands of people were killed and millions were forced to flee. Twenty years later, history seems to be repeating itself. Under a new name and new commanders, these same forces have once again targeted the region’s non-Arab communities. Among them, the Masalit have become the main target.
Who Are the Masalit?
The Masalit are an ethnic group of farmers and herders, historically settled in Western Darfur and some bordering areas of Chad. During the new civil war, they were perceived as allies of the regular army. This perception alone was enough to turn them into a direct target for the RSF. The resulting violence has not only affected alleged combatants but entire civilian communities. Organizations such as Human Rights Watch and Doctors Without Borders describe it as a campaign of “ethnic cleansing” and crimes against humanity.
The Genocide
The attacks against the Masalit began immediately after the outbreak of the war in April 2023. The city of El Geneina, the capital of Western Darfur, became the main epicenter of the violence. According to a report by Human Rights Watch, between April and June 2023, between 10,000 and 15,000 Masalit civilians were killed.
Eyewitnesses describe summary executions, systematic arson and sexual violence. One survivor interviewed by VOA said: “I saw with my own eyes RSF soldiers separating men from their families. They took them away, and shortly after, we heard gunshots. We never saw them again”.
On May 27th and 28th 2023, in the village of Misterei, near the border with Chad, the RSF killed at least 97 civilians. Survivors recalled the militiamen shouting ethnic slurs like “kill the slaves” while setting homes on fire.
The violence continued in the following months. In November, the Ardamata neighborhood, again in El Geneina, was the scene of another massacre. The RSF surrounded the area and went house to house. Estimates speak of 800 to 2,000 dead in just a few days, and more than 20,000 people forced to flee to Chad.
Alongside executions, sexual violence was used as a deliberate weapon. Report after report reveals stories of women raped in public, often in front of their families, to inflict collective humiliation. A young witness told The New Humanitarian: “I saw armed men shoot children in front of their mothers. Then they raped the surviving women, laughing and insulting them”.
Data collected by Doctors Without Borders among refugees in Chad confirms the scale of the tragedy. According to a 2023 survey, more than 10% of families lost at least one member during their escape. Among males aged 15 to 44, one in twenty is reported missing.
International Reactions
The tragedy of the Masalit has not gone unnoticed. In April 2025, the United States officially declared that the RSF is committing genocide against the Masalit and other non-Arab communities in Darfur, and announced new sanctions against those RSF commanders responsible.
The International Criminal Court has launched investigations and is gathering evidence to prosecute those responsible for the massacres in El Geneina and Ardamata. Meanwhile, the Sudanese government has accused the United Arab Emirates of supplying weapons to the RSF and brought the case before the International Court of Justice, which, however, dismissed the complaint due to lack of jurisdiction.
The United Nations has also taken a stand, imposing sanctions on several RSF commanders and denouncing the violence in Darfur as an organized campaign of ethnic cleansing.
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