In this episode of The Horn, Alan speaks with Julia Steers, investigations editor at Lighthouse Reports, about the large-scale atrocities that took place in Darfur’s El Fasher after the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) captured the city from Sudan’s army last month. They retrace how the RSF’s seizure of El Fasher unfolded after months of siege and discuss what investigators have uncovered about the mass killings and widespread abuses that followed. They examine the scale and brutality of the attacks on civilians – many of them documented by the RSF themselves – and the ethnic pattern of the killings. They also explore the RSF’s motivations for the apparent coordinated and systematic mass killing, and how the group has responded to the reporting on these atrocities.

For more, check out Lighthouse Reports’ publication “The Killing Fields of Al Fashir”, co-published with Sky News and Sudan War Monitor, our Hold Your Fire! episode “What Does the RSF’s Seizure of El Fasher Mean for Sudan’s War?” and our Sudan country page.

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In this episode of The Horn, Alan is joined by Timur Söylemez, former ambassador and former head of the mediation unit at Türkiye’s foreign ministry, to discuss the evolving landscape of conflict mediation and Ankara’s approach in the Horn of Africa and beyond. They unpack the headwinds facing mediators today amid proliferating conflicts, shrinking space for comprehensive peace deals and rising scepticism toward multilateral bodies. They explore how Türkiye chooses where to engage, how its approach differs from that of the U.S., EU and Gulf states, and favouring results over process. They also examine Türkiye’s efforts in the Horn, including its mediation between Somalia and Ethiopia, and its exploration of peace talks on Sudan, as well as how Ankara cooperates with other mediators from the U.S., Europe and the Gulf.

This episode is produced in partnership with the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung.

For more, check out our Türkiye and Horn of Africa pages.

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Today we're bringing you a bonus episode on the fall of El Fasher in Sudan from Crisis Group's Global Podcast Hold Your Fire!.

In this update episode of Hold Your Fire!, Richard speaks with Crisis Group’s Sudan expert Shewit Woldemichael and Horn director Alan Boswell about the paramilitary RSF capturing North Dafur’s capital El Fasher, the reports of horrific violence in the city and the implications for the trajectory of Sudan’s war. They discuss how the RSF managed to take control of the city after a siege of more than a year and the situation in El Fasher now amid a worsening humanitarian crisis and reports of mass killings of civilians. They discuss the de facto partition of Sudan with the RSF now controlling most of western Sudan and the army holding the capital Khartoum and the east. They also explore whether the capture of El Fasher may derail U.S.-led efforts to broker a ceasefire.

For more, check out our recent episode Can a U.S.-Arab Roadmap Stop Sudan’s War? And our Sudan country page.

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