UK sanctions 15 Sudan commanders over suspected El Fasher atrocities

The designations

Two of the named commanders are Hussein Abu Jalak, an RSF colonel linked to atrocities during the siege, and Al-Nour Ahmed Adam, known as Al-Qubba. The UK said Al-Qubba was present and played a prominent role in besieging and attacking the city.

The designations cover the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces. The measures are travel bans and asset freezes for the 15. McNeill said they were meant to secure accountability and help survivors rebuild their lives. The UK said the action was intended to highlight the violence seen during the siege of El Fasher.

The UK said its action followed UK-backed investigations that found campaigns of deliberate starvation and sexual violence by all sides in the conflict. The £15m ($20.2m) is for survivors of conflict-related sexual violence and the wider humanitarian response.

McNeill said Sudan sat near the top of the UK's priorities and described it as the world's biggest humanitarian crisis. She said relief efforts require funding, access, respect for international humanitarian law and a commitment to protecting rights and saving lives. Fighting between the SAF and the RSF began on 15 April 2023, according to the United Nations.

The El Fasher attack

The RSF overran El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, on 26 October 2025 after an 18-month siege. The UN Human Rights Office said more than 6,000 people were killed in just over three days during the final offensive. Its report put at least 4,400 deaths inside the city between 25 and 27 October, with more than 1,600 more killed as people tried to flee.

The office based the toll on interviews with 140 victims and witnesses, checked against satellite imagery and video footage. It warned that the true scale was undoubtedly significantly higher. The report said RSF fighters fired heavy weapons at 1,000 people sheltering in the Rashid dormitory at El Fasher university on 26 October, killing around 500. Around 600 people were executed in university facilities that day, including 50 children, it said.

The UN Human Rights Office said the offensive included mass killings, summary executions, sexual violence, abductions for ransom, torture and detention. In many cases, the attacks were ethnicity-motivated, it said.

Amnesty International concluded in a report that the RSF committed crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing in El Fasher. It relied on interviews with 247 people. An independent UN mission said in February that the assault bore the 'hallmarks of genocide'.

The RSF has previously denied deliberately attacking civilians in El Fasher, while acknowledging that individual fighters committed abuses.