Panel of Experts findings on El Fasher surface in print before the Council sees them published
Sudan Tribune reports from a leaked UN Panel document that RSF commanders directed sexual violence during the El Fasher assault — and that two of the men named are now in Khartoum under an army amnesty.
The Panel of Experts submitted its final report to Council members on 13 July 2026 under Resolution 2791. It had not been published as of the Security Council Report’s 1 September press time; Panel reports stay confidential until considered by the 1591 Committee and transmitted to the Council. On 29 July, Reuters published an article disclosing information the report contained. On 6 August, the United Arab Emirates wrote to the Security Council expressing concern over the disclosure, having apparently corresponded on the matter before. On 5 September, Sudan Tribune published findings it says it drew from a Panel report it had seen. Six days later, the Council extended the Panel’s mandate by a single month.
Per Sudan Tribune’s account of the leaked document, the Panel cited an RSF commander who confirmed that senior officers issued direct directives to carry out sexual violence against women and girls from non-Arab communities during the assault on El Fasher, and encouraged the killing of civilians. It names Tijani Ibrahim Moussa Mohamed, known as “Al Zeir Salem,” as a field commander who led assault units, and Al-Fateh Abdullah Idris Adam, known as “Abu Lulu,” accused by investigators of summary executions of unarmed men attempting to flee. Two further commanders, Al-Qubba and Al-Savana, defected to the Sudanese Armed Forces in April and May 2026 respectively, Sudan Tribune reports, and then moved to Khartoum under an amnesty granted by the army leadership. None of this has been picked up elsewhere. It rests on one specialist outlet reading a document the public cannot check.
Assessment: Two things are worth separating. The El Fasher takeover of 26 October 2025 and the long siege that preceded it are independently established; the named commanders and the amnesty are not, and should be carried as Sudan Tribune’s reporting from a leaked text. If the amnesty claim holds, it is the most damaging detail of the week for the SAF’s posture at the Council, where its ambassador presented the army as the sovereign party obstructed by an embargo. The UAE’s letter is its own signal: a state that objects to the Panel’s leaks is arguing about process while the Panel’s mandate is renewed month to month.