The Yale Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL) welcomes the U.S. Department of State’s announcement of its genocide determination against members of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and allied militias, as well as the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s announcement of sanctions against Mohammad Hamdan Daglo Mousa (Hemedti), for his leadership of RSF. Located within the Yale School of Public Health (YSPH), Yale HRL has been documenting alleged crimes by RSF and Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) since the start of the war – both initially as part of the State Department’s Sudan Conflict Observatory program and independently since the spring of 2024. Yale HRL has documented specific incidents that may have contributed to this genocide determination including the attacks in El-Geneina, Murnei, Sirba, the intentional destruction of non-Arab communities including Masalit, Zaghawa, and Fur communities across Darfur, and other incidents.

“This genocide determination comes after over 100 attacks on predominantly non-Arab communities across Darfur for over 21 months, a famine declaration for over seven months, and the displacement of millions of people from Sudan, including hundreds of thousands of people from non-Arab communities in Darfur,” stated Kaveh Khoshnood, associate professor of epidemiology at YSPH and faculty director of Yale HRL.

The Sudanese people themselves have been the key actors in documenting alleged crimes by the RSF and other parties of the conflict, which allegedly include targeted extrajudicial killings, conflict-related sexual violence, and widespread and systematic attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure. Yale HRL has worked with affected communities, civil society organizations, including local responders, UN mechanisms, and international NGOs to document events on the ground in Darfur and other areas of Sudan.

Yale HRL has been documenting attacks by all parties related to the RSF’s siege of El-Fasher, Zamzam Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) Camp, and the surrounding communities and IDP camps through remote sensing data (satellite imagery) and open-source data analysis since April 2024. Since the start of the current conflict, Yale HRL has documented the destruction of over 100 predominantly Masalit and Zaghawa communities in Central, North, South and West Darfur, as well as the displacement of over five million people from the Darfur region and eleven million people across Sudan as of December 2024. Yale HRL also contributed data to support the Famine Review Committee’s finding of Integrated Phase Classification 5 (Famine) conditions in Zamzam Camp, North Darfur. RSF continues to engage in attacks that are ethnically targeted against non-Arab groups, including the Zaghawa.

“While it is important that the Biden administration in its last days called RSF’s crimes by their right name, genocide, it is now incumbent on the current administration and incoming Trump administration to enact consequences for the RSF’s actions to hold them accountable and to stop these attacks, including consequences for outside actors fueling the violence,” said Nathaniel A. Raymond, executive director of Yale HRL. “The UN Security Council must take immediate actions to protect civilians and to monitor in near-real time the humanitarian and human security situation across all of Sudan.” The International Criminal Court, which is currently investigating recent crimes in Darfur as a part of its extant mandate as a part of the UNSC, should be supported in its current investigations.

Specific HRL reports relevant to the genocide determination’s findings are available through the Yale School of Public Health (April 2024 – present) and Sudan Conflict Observatory websites (June 2023 – November 2023). Key reporting includes:

• Evidence of alleged crimes against humanity by Rapid Support Forces in Darfur, including the systematic destruction of 26 communities across Darfur between 15 April – 10 July 2023
• Early public documentation of attacks on communities in West and South Darfur: 9 June 2023
• Report corroborating the extrajudicial killing of West Darfur Governor Abkar in El-Geneina, 15 June 2023
• Corroboration of bodies in the streets of El-Geneina, widespread destruction of El-Geneina, and the systematic targeted destruction of schools, 22 June 2023
• Destruction of Murnei, West Darfur, 29 June 2023
• RSF’s systematic destruction of Sirba, West Darfur, resulting in 86% of all structures destroyed, 24 July 2023
• Evidence of possible body disposal near El-Geneina, 14 September 2023

Systematic Arson attacks on Zaghawa communities

• HRL documents thermal scarring consistent with selective razing of predominantly Zaghawa communities in at least 40 communities west of El-Fasher [16 April-5 June 2024]: 16 April, 29 April, 2 May, 21 May, 29 May and 5 June 2024
• HRL documents thermal scarring consistent with selective razing of predominantly Zaghawa communities in at least 40 communities north of Kutum: 16 October and 7 November 2024

Attacks on Zaghawa neighborhoods in El-Fasher

• HRL documents thermal scarring consistent with selective razing of predominantly Zaghawa neighborhoods in southern neighborhoods of El-Fasher: 29 May, 5 June, and 19 December 2024
• HRL documents RSF attacks on Zamzam IDP Camp and finds evidence of heavy artillery in range of Zamzam IDP camp: 3 December 2024, 13 December 2024

Systematic Arson attacks on Zaghawa communities

• HRL documents thermal scarring consistent with selective razing of predominantly Zaghawa communities in at least 40 communities west of El-Fasher [16 April-5 June 2024]: 16 April: link), 29 April (link), 2 May (link), 21 May (link), 29 May: (link), 5 June (link)

Attacks on Zaghawa neighborhoods in El-Fasher [since May 2024]

• HRL documents thermal scarring consistent with selective razing of predominantly Zaghawa neighborhoods in southern neighborhoods of El-Fasher: 29 May (link), 5 June (link), 19 December (link)

HRL documents RSF attacks on Zamzam IDP Camp and finds evidence of heavy artillery in range of Zamzam IDP camp [13 December 2024], 3 December 2024 (link), 13 December 2024 (link).

• Yale HRL documents beginning of RSF’s sustained artillery attacks on Zamzam IDP Camp: (https://files-profile.medicine.yale.edu/documents/1f9a90aa-6b8f-455f-a145-e368dfe682f8)
  • Caitlin N. Howarth, Kaveh Khoshnood, Nathaniel A. Raymond et al. “Zamzam IDP Camp Attacked: Confirmation of Munition Impacts Between 1-3 December 2024.” 03 December 2024. Humanitarian Research Lab at Yale School of Public Health: New Haven.
• Yale HRL finds four heavy artillery pieces consistent with AH4 155mm Howitzer (link)
  • Caitlin N. Howarth, Kaveh Khoshnood, Nathaniel A. Raymond et al. “SPECIAL REPORT: RSF Heavy Artillery in Range of Zamzam IDP Camp As Civilians Flee.” 13 December 2024. Humanitarian Research Lab at Yale School of Public Health: New Haven.