The civil war in Sudan is one of the most brutal conflicts in the world today. In October 2025, a group of mutineers known as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) overran el-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur province. RSF fighters were videoed (or videoed themselves) shooting captives and brutalizing civilians. The corpses and blood in the streets were visible from space, and estimates of the dead range from 10,000 to 150,000. The U.S. State Department and U.N. Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan have both accused the RSF of genocide.
A contractor tied to U.S. special operations may have helped the RSF during the siege, Reuters and a United Nations body recently reported. Reuters reported last month that companies owned by U.S. Army Special Forces veteran Steven Shaulis were flying jets between several RSF logistics hubs throughout 2025, including one airport that was "critical" to the siege of el-Fasher. Last week, the U.N. Panel of Experts on the Sudan wrote that it had "reliable information from four sources that the aircraft had transported RSF fighters and mercenaries, as well as military equipment, including drones and weapons."
