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STORY GENEVA / SUDAN FACT FINDING MISSION
TRT: 04:32
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 19 FEBRUARY 2026, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND / FILE
FILE - GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Wide shot, exterior, Palais des Nations, Flag Alley
19 FEBRUARY 2026, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
2. Various shots, press conference
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Mohamed Chande Othman, Chair, Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan:
“The fact-finding mission finds that the 18-month siege of El-Fasher that preceded the takeover of the city on 26 and 27th of October was used to systematically dismantle the means of survival of its predominantly non-Arab population, particularly the Zaghawa and Fur, culminating in catastrophic humanitarian collapse.”
4. Wide shot, press conference
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Mohamed Chande Othman, Chair, Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan:
“The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) encircled the city, cutting off food, water, electricity and medical supplies while subjugating residential areas, displacement camps, markets and places of worship to repeated shelling and drone strikes. Earthen berms developed by the RSF and trenches extending over 31 kilometres around El-Fasher restricted civilian movements and effectively entrenched its population.”
6. Wide shot, press conference
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Mohamed Chande Othman, Chair, Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan:
“The cumulative effects of prolonged starvation, denial of humanitarian aid and medical care, and restricted movements and targeted violence rendered survival increasingly impossible for the affected communities, creating conditions of life incompatible with human survival.”
8. Wide shot, press conference dais
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Joy Ngozi Ezeilo, Expert Member of the Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan:
“Over the course of the three days, civilians and those hors de combat attempting to flee were intercepted, separated and executed at exit points and along earthen berms surrounding the city. Survivors described men being bound and shot in groups, bodies left unburied along roads, and wounded persons executed at close range. In some instances, women and children were also killed.”
10. Wide shot, press conference dais
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Mona Rishmawi, Expert Member, Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan:
“When we assess the totality of the overwhelming evidence that we gathered - you saw Professor Ezeilo was talking about - killings in particular places that we documented in locations that we know about, and we assess this overwhelming evidence, the scale of the killings, the systematic nature of sexual violence, the deliberate starvation and the targeting of specific ethnic communities - in this case it's the Zaghawa and the Fur - a broader, more alarming legal conclusion emerges. Based on the pattern, consolidation, scale, systematic nature and cumulative effect of these crimes, there is only one possible conclusion. It's an indication of a path of genocide.”
12. Wide shot, press conference dais
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Mona Rishmawi, Expert Member, Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan:
“After carefully considering all possible alternative explanations, the mission concluded that the only reasonable inference that can be drawn from the pattern of conduct in and around El-Fasher, is that the perpetrators acted with genocidal intent.”
14. Wide shot, press conference dais
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Mona Rishmawi, Expert Member, Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan:
“We are engaging with main parties - let's call it like this, main parties - and we hope that they'll understand the message, enough is enough. We reached the point of genocide now. Enough is enough. And really, we all need to take our responsibility seriously. And states need to take the responsibility seriously.”
16. Med shot, speakers at the podium of the press conference
The Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan in a new report released today (19 Feb) said the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) carried out a coordinated campaign of destruction against non-Arab communities in and around El-Fasher, the hallmarks of which point to genocide.
While the Mission documented war crimes and crimes against humanity, the evidence establishes that at least three underlying acts of genocide were committed. These acts include killing members of a protected ethnic group; causing serious bodily and mental harm; and deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the group’s physical destruction in whole or in part — all core elements of the crime of genocide under international law.
At a press conference in Geneva, the Chair of the Fact-Finding Mission, Mohamed Chande Othman, said, “the 18-month siege of El-Fasher that preceded the takeover of the city on 26 and 27th of October was used to systematically dismantle the means of survival of its predominantly non-Arab population, particularly the Zaghawa and Fur, culminating in catastrophic humanitarian collapse.”
Othman said the RSF “encircled the city, cutting off food, water, electricity and medical supplies while subjugating residential areas, displacement camps, markets and places of worship to repeated shelling and drone strikes.”
He said, “earthen berms developed by the RSF and trenches extending over 31 kilometres around El-Fasher restricted civilian movements and effectively entrenched its population.”
Othman said, “the cumulative effects of prolonged starvation, denial of humanitarian aid and medical care, and restricted movements and targeted violence rendered survival increasingly impossible for the affected communities, creating conditions of life incompatible with human survival.”
An expert member of the Fact-Finding Mission, Professor Joy Ngozi Ezeilo, narrated how “over the course of the three days, civilians and those hors de combat attempting to flee were intercepted, separated and executed at exit points and along earthen berms surrounding the city.”
Ezeilo said, “survivors described men being bound and shot in groups, bodies left unburied along roads, and wounded persons executed at close range. In some instances, women and children were also killed.”
In some instances, she added, women and children were also killed.”
Another expert member, Mona Rishmawi, said, “when we assess the totality of the overwhelming evidence that we gathered - you saw Professor Ezeilo was talking about - killings in particular places that we documented in locations that we know about, and we assess this overwhelming evidence, the scale of the killings, the systematic nature of sexual violence, the deliberate starvation and the targeting of specific ethnic communities - in this case it's the Zaghawa and the Fur - a broader, more alarming legal conclusion emerges. Based on the pattern, consolidation, scale, systematic nature and cumulative effect of these crimes, there is only one possible conclusion. It's an indication of a path of genocide.”
Rishmawi said, “after carefully considering all possible alternative explanations, the mission concluded that the only reasonable inference that can be drawn from the pattern of conduct in and around El-Fasher, is that the perpetrators acted with genocidal intent.”
She said, “we are engaging with main parties - let's call it like this, main parties - and we hope that they'll understand the message, enough is enough. We reached the point of genocide now. Enough is enough. And really, we all need to take our responsibility seriously. And states need to take the responsibility seriously.”
The report to the Human Rights Council, “Hallmarks of Genocide in El-Fasher,” found that genocidal intent is the only reasonable inference that can be drawn from the RSF’s systematic pattern of ethnically targeted killings, sexual violence, destruction, and public statements explicitly calling for the elimination of non-Arab communities, particularly the Zaghawa and Fur.
