Full Analysis Summary
UN report on El-Fasher
A United Nations human rights report released in February 2026 says the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and allied militias carried out mass atrocities when they seized El-Fasher in late October 2025, actions the U.N. office describes as war crimes and possible crimes against humanity.
The OHCHR documented "extreme violence" during a final October offensive and concluded the violations in El-Fasher may constitute crimes against humanity if they were part of a widespread or systematic attack on civilians.
The U.N. rights office cited in press accounts said the assaults produced what it called "widespread atrocities."
This portrayal is rooted in the OHCHR findings and was reported across outlets summarising the report's key conclusions.
Coverage Differences
Tone/Emphasis
ThePrint (Asian) foregrounds the OHCHR’s phrasing of “widespread atrocities” in a concise, Reuters-linked summary, while Gulf Times (Other) emphasizes the formal accusation of “war crimes and possible crimes against humanity” and frames the episode within prolonged conflict and humanitarian collapse; Al Jazeera (West Asian) stresses the legal threshold language — that atrocities “may amount to crimes against humanity if part of a widespread or systematic attack” — and provides the seizure’s date. Each source is reporting on the same OHCHR findings but selects different wording and emphasis from the report.
Narrative Framing
Gulf Times situates the El-Fasher episode in the wider conflict since April 2023 and the humanitarian emergency, while ThePrint focuses narrowly on the OHCHR legal finding and Al Jazeera connects the findings to the specific timeline (the Oct. 26 seizure) and siege that preceded it. This affects readers’ perception of scale and context.
Alleged abuses in report
The OHCHR report documents graphic, eyewitness allegations of mass killings and summary executions.
It describes an attack on the Al-Rashid dormitory where about 1,000 civilians were sheltering and roughly 500 were reportedly killed.
A witness account in the report describes RSF fighters rounding up about 300 young men in Daraja Oula and "systematically shooting, grenading and using a gas burner on them."
The U.N. office also recorded patterns of torture, abductions for ransom, pillage, disappearances, detention and the use of children in hostilities.
The report presents this catalogue of abuses as tied to civilian targeting.
Coverage Differences
Detail Level
Al Jazeera (West Asian) provides the most vivid, specific survivor testimony and location-based detail (Al‑Rashid dormitory, Daraja Oula) from the OHCHR interviews; Gulf Times (Other) lists a broad set of crimes documented by the team (mass killings, summary executions, torture, abductions, use of children) and ThePrint (Asian) relays the OHCHR’s legal characterisation but offers fewer on-the-ground specifics. The differences reflect editorial choice: detailed witness narratives (Al Jazeera) versus summarised lists of violations (Gulf Times) and concise legal framing (ThePrint).
Quoted Witnesses
Only Al Jazeera reproduces extended, graphic witness descriptions (e.g., the gas burner account), whereas Gulf Times summarises the categories of abuse without inserting long verbatim witness quotes; ThePrint keeps to the OHCHR summary. Readers seeking first-person accounts will find them primarily in Al Jazeera’s coverage.
El-Fasher casualties report
The OHCHR team quantified an extremely high immediate death toll and warned the true figure could be higher.
Gulf Times reproduces the report's estimate that "more than 6,000" people were killed in the first three days of the offensive — "at least 4,400 inside El-Fasher and over 1,600 of people killed while fleeing" — and said thousands remain missing.
The office placed the episode in the context of a conflict since April 2023 that has already killed tens of thousands and displaced some 11 million people.
Al Jazeera links the assault to an 18-month siege that left El-Fasher cut off from food, medicine and supplies and forced large civilian departures.
ThePrint summarises the OHCHR findings without reprinting the granular casualty breakdown.
Coverage Differences
Casualty Detail
Gulf Times (Other) provides the specific casualty breakdown quoted from the OHCHR — “more than 6,000” with “at least 4,400 inside El-Fasher and over 1,600… while fleeing” — whereas ThePrint (Asian) relays the OHCHR’s legal finding but omits the numeric breakdown in its brief summary; Al Jazeera (West Asian) emphasises siege conditions that help explain civilian displacement. The divergence affects how readers gauge the immediate human cost versus the conditions that led to it.
Contextual Framing
Gulf Times frames the El-Fasher assault within the broader humanitarian catastrophe since April 2023, quoting large displacement figures; Al Jazeera foregrounds the siege and SAF withdrawal as proximate causes, while ThePrint keeps focus on the OHCHR’s legal characterisation. Each amplifies different parts of the report to shape context.
Calls for credible investigations
The report prompted calls for credible investigations and accountability.
Al Jazeera records that RSF leader Mohamed “Hemedti” Dagalo pledged an investigation and that the RSF initially blamed allied armed groups.
The U.N. rights chief Volker Türk urged “credible, impartial investigations and meaningful accountability” in Sudanese courts, third states, or at the International Criminal Court.
Gulf Times similarly quoted Türk warning that “persistent impunity is fueling the violence.”
ThePrint relayed the OHCHR’s conclusions but focused less on the RSF’s response or the range of accountability options cited by the U.N. chief.
Coverage Differences
Accountability Emphasis
Al Jazeera (West Asian) reports both the RSF’s initial denial/blame-shifting and the pledge by Mohamed “Hemedti” Dagalo to investigate, plus the U.N. rights chief’s call for multiple accountability avenues (domestic, third states, ICC); Gulf Times (Other) highlights Türk’s warning about impunity fuelling violence; ThePrint (Asian) focuses on reporting the OHCHR finding and is less detailed on the RSF response or Turkish’s list of remedies. This yields different impressions of whether domestic investigation pledges are sufficient or whether international avenues are needed.
RSF Response
Only Al Jazeera records the RSF’s public statements (blaming allies and a pledge by Hemedti); Gulf Times reproduces the U.N. criticism and Türk’s remarks but does not quote an RSF response in the excerpt; ThePrint is silent on RSF’s reaction in its brief summary.
OHCHR findings on El-Fasher
Taken together, the sources show a consistent, though differently framed, finding: the OHCHR documents mass, systematic abuses during the El‑Fasher assault.
The office says these abuses may amount to war crimes and possible crimes against humanity, and it urges investigation and accountability amid a wider humanitarian emergency.
Differences among outlets reflect editorial choices.
ThePrint’s brief Reuters-style summary foregrounds the OHCHR legal conclusion.
Gulf Times stresses casualty figures and the larger crisis.
Al Jazeera foregrounds survivor testimony, the siege context, the RSF’s response, and the U.N. chief’s detailed accountability options.
The report’s figures, survivor accounts and the U.N.’s recommendations are present across the coverage.
Where each outlet focuses varies, and certain details — such as RSF public statements and the dormitory assault’s casualty estimate — are more prominent in Al Jazeera and Gulf Times than in ThePrint.
Readers should note these emphases and the OHCHR’s conditional formulation when assessing the findings.
Coverage Differences
Overall Framing
Each source reports the OHCHR findings but with different emphases based on type: ThePrint (Asian) is concise and legal-focused; Gulf Times (Other) is statistics- and crisis-focused; Al Jazeera (West Asian) offers detailed witness testimony, timeline and RSF quotations and accountability options. These editorial choices change the perceived balance between legal characterisation, human detail, and crisis scale.