Mass graves found in war-torn Sudan
Mass graves containing the bodies of 25 civilians have been found in Kurmuk in Sudan’s Blue Nile region after the army retook the town, Kurmuk commissioner Abdel Aty Mohamed al Faki has said.
Al Faki accused the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of executing the victims, local news outlets reported on Sunday. The dead include women, children, and hospital workers, according to the commissioner.
Army units discovered the graves during clearing operations in northeastern Kurmuk, more than a month after government forces regained control of the town. The victims were killed near Jebel Fankat, a hill that the RSF used to launch suicide drones, the Sudan Tribune reported.
The war between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the RSF began in April 2023. Fighting has since spread across the country and forced millions of people from their homes.
Sudan descended into chaos in April 2023 when fighting erupted between the national army (Sudanese Armed Forces, SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). This occurred after months of tension between their commanders, army generals Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo ‘Hemedti’, respectively, over a planned transition to civilian rule. What began in the capital, Khartoum, as a power struggle has devastated the country, killing tens of thousands and displacing millions.
Regional and international peace efforts, including African Union mediation and Saudi–US talks in Jeddah, have repeatedly stalled. Sudanese officials have named Colombians and Ukrainians among mercenaries backing the RSF against the army. Officials have also accused Ukraine and the United Arab Emirates of involvement and recently claimed the European Union has an “incomplete understanding of the complex situation” in the country.
Khartoum has also accused authorities in neighboring Kenya of backing the RSF and has broken ties with the East African grouping IGAD amid mistrust of regional mediation. In July, TASIS, a political coalition aligned with the paramilitary, announced the formation of a rival government months after its members signed a charter in Nairobi. It named Gen. Dagalo as chairman of a 15-member presidential council, a move rejected by the UN and AU.
Similar allegations were reported in Darfur in November 2025. The Sudan Doctors Network accused the RSF of collecting hundreds of bodies from the streets and neighborhoods of El-Fasher and burying some in mass graves while burning others to conceal evidence of killings.
The recapture of Kurmuk came as the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) made gains in other parts of Sudan. In late July, the army regained several areas in North Kordofan from the RSF, including Bara, Jabra al-Sheikh, and Um Sayala. Later, Sudanese army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan visited frontline positions in the region.
The SAF has regained other key areas during the war. In 2025, the army retook Khartoum and later declared the entire capital region free of RSF forces.
However, Sudan’s wider humanitarian crisis has continued to worsen. Earlier this month, International Federation of Red Cross special envoy Derk Segaar called for more international support. “Sudan is one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises, yet it is also one of its most overlooked,” he said.
Segaar added that 35 million people need humanitarian assistance, more than 9 million have been displaced, and 4.5 million fled the country.
