Experts Accuse RSF of Deliberate Starvation Tactics in Sudan War

New satellite and sensor-based analysis suggests attacks on farming communities in Sudan’s Darfur region were part of a systematic campaign by the RSF to destroy local food production ahead of the siege of El Fasher.

According to an exclusive by The Guardian, researchers say the pattern of violence indicates a deliberate strategy to undermine food systems in rural areas that traditionally supplied nearby cities.

Fields that once sustained entire communities were repeatedly burned or abandoned following armed raids, leaving villages depopulated and farmland destroyed.

The analysis, conducted by the Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL) at Yale University, examined satellite imagery and remote fire-detection sensors across 41 farming communities in north Darfur between March and June 2024.

The findings suggest repeated attacks on agricultural areas coincided with the RSF’s military campaign against the city of El Fasher, located about 20 miles from the village of Ammar Jadid. The research indicates that several farming settlements supplying grain to regional markets were attacked multiple times.

According to HRL, some villages experienced seven separate attacks during the four-month period studied. A 2040 percent increase in fire detections was recorded across the affected communities during the same timeframe.

The destruction included homes, livestock enclosures and farming infrastructure essential for producing staple crops such as corn and millet.

Legal experts argue that the targeting of agricultural resources rather than purely military objectives points to a broader effort to eliminate food production. Stanford Law professor Tom Dannenbaum said the destruction occurred in areas already facing severe food insecurity.

“People were at the brink of starvation and objects indispensable to their survival were being destroyed,” he said.

The HRL study combined satellite imagery with heat sensors capable of detecting fires in rural areas. Researchers tracked patterns of destruction across 41 villages, finding that 25 percent were attacked more than once. Following the attacks, 68 percent of the settlements showed no signs of normal habitation. Satellite imagery showed farmland abandoned and vegetation growing uncontrolled around destroyed homes.

Vehicles consistent with those used by RSF fighters were also detected near several attack sites. Yale Law professor Oona Hathaway said the data provides unusually detailed documentation of the attacks.

“It’s evidence of extraordinary cruelty and the real horrors people have been facing,” she said. She added that the level of documentation could potentially be used in legal proceedings.

The report provides a unique level of fine-grained, over-time analysis documenting exactly what was attacked… it is of a quality that could be submitted in a court for criminal prosecution.

Yale Law Professor Oona Hathaway

The attacks on agricultural villages occurred shortly before the siege of El Fasher, which began in April 2024 and lasted 18 months until October 2025. According to researchers, the destruction of farming areas effectively removed a major source of food for the city.

HRL executive director Nathaniel Raymond said the attacks appeared designed to sever supply lines. “They ripped out the breadbasket of El Fasher as an intentional strategy to starve the city.”

During the siege, the RSF blocked the entry of food, water and medicine into El Fasher. An earthen berm at least 19 miles long was constructed to prevent civilians from leaving the city.

Investigations have also examined a 2025 attack on the Zamzam displacement camp, which hosted about 700,000 people.

The UAE-linked RSF has used prolonged sieges in several Darfur cities with large non-Arab populations. Previous violence included the June 2023 takeover of El Geneina, where tens of thousands were killed and hundreds of thousands displaced.

Meanwhile, famine conditions have spread to areas including Kadugli, where staple food prices such as sorghum have increased by 1,000 percent since the war began.

Researchers warn that the pattern of attacks on food production systems could reappear in other regions of Sudan if accountability measures are not pursued.