In an interview with AFP, Nathaniel Raymond of Yale University's Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL) said the aerial images were the only way to monitor the crisis unfolding on the ground in the city of El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur.
On October 26, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which have been fighting a brutal war with Sudan's army for more than two years, claimed full control of the city they had besieged for nearly 18 months.
Close-up satellite images have emerged showing evidence of door-to-door killings, mass graves, red patches and bodies visible along an earthen berm -- findings consistent with eyewitness accounts.
On October 28, HRL published footage from El-Fasher's maternity hospital showing "piles of white objects" that were not present before and measured between "1.1 to 1.9 metres" (3.6 to 6.2 feet) -- roughly the size of human bodies lying down or with limbs bent.
It said there were "reddish earth discolourations" on the ground nearby that could have been blood.
The following day, the World Health Organization announced the "tragic killing of more than 460 patients and medical staff" at the hospital.
The images released by HRL, which had been tracking the situation in El-Fasher throughout the siege, became "a spark plug for public outrage", said Raymond.
- 'Highest volume' -
Since the start of the siege, HRL has been alerting the United Nations and the United States to developments on the ground, with its reports becoming a reference point for tracking territorial advances in the area.
Population movements, attacks, drone strikes and mass killings have been closely monitored in the city, where access remains blocked despite repeated calls to open humanitarian corridors.
Satellite imagery has become an indispensable tool for non-governmental organisations and journalists in regions where access is difficult or impossible -- including Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan.
Several companies specialising in satellite imaging scan the globe daily, hindered only by weather conditions. Depending on the sensors onboard, satellites can clearly distinguish buildings, vehicles and even crowds.
HRL then cross-references the images with other material including online footage, social media and local news reports, according to Yale's published methodology.
Raymond said that after El-Fasher's fall paramilitaries "started posting videos of themselves killing people at the highest volume they ever had", providing more material for analysis.
The team cross-checked these videos with the limited available information to identify, date and geolocate acts of violence using satellite imagery.
Raymond said the lab's mission is to raise the alarm about the atrocities and collect evidence to ensure the perpetrators of war crimes do not escape justice.
He referenced similar aerial images taken after the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, which eventually helped bring charges against former Bosnian Serb military leader Ratko Mladic.
An international tribunal sentenced him to life imprisonment for war crimes and genocide.
- Grim task ahead -
The images from El-Fasher have triggered international outcry.
The prosecutor's office at the International Criminal Court said on Monday that the atrocities there could amount to crimes against humanity and war crimes.
The public outrage was followed by a significant reduction in the amount of footage posted by paramilitaries on the ground, according to the HRL.
Of the videos still being shared, "very few, if any, have metadata in them", said Raymond, who noted that the researchers had to count the bodies themselves.
He said they were not counting individual remains but tagging piles of bodies and measuring them as they get bigger.
He added, however, that the researchers' workload has not decreased with the reduction in videos. Instead, they are now focusing on the grim task of tracing "the perpetrator's transition from killing phase to disposal".
"Are they going to do trenches? Are they going to light them on fire? Are they going to try to put them in the water?"
Sudan defence minister says army to keep fighting after US truce proposal
Port Sudan, Sudan Nov 4, 2025 -
Sudan's defence minister said on Tuesday that the army would press on with its fight against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces after the country's security and defence council met to discuss a US proposal for a ceasefire.
"We thank the Trump administration for its efforts and proposals to achieve peace," Hassan Kabroun said in a speech broadcast on state television, while adding that "preparations for the Sudanese people's battle are ongoing."
"Our preparations for war are a legitimate national right," he said following the council meeting in Khartoum.
No details of the US truce proposal have been made public.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Tuesday that Washington wanted "to see this conflict come to a peaceful end, just as we have with so many others, but the reality is it's a very complicated situation on the ground right now".
She said the United States was "actively engaged" in seeking a peace deal alongside Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
The war in Sudan, which has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced millions more over the past two years, has spread to new areas in recent days, sparking fears of an even greater humanitarian catastrophe.
The army-aligned authorities had rejected an earlier truce proposal from the four countries -- referred to as the Quad -- under which both they and the paramilitaries they are fighting would be excluded from a transitional political process.
The latest discussions follow an escalation on the ground, with the paramilitary RSF appearing to prepare an assault on the central Kordofan region after capturing El-Fasher, the last army stronghold in the vast western Darfur region.
People forced to flee El-Fasher have described facing intimidation and violence from the RSF.
Mohamed Abdullah, 56, told AFP he was stopped by RSF fighters while leaving the city last week the day before its fall on October 26.
"They demanded our phones, money, everything. They kept searching us thoroughly," he said of the RSF.
On his way to Tawila, about 70 kilometres (43 miles) to the west, he saw "a body left on the street that looked like it had been eaten by a dog".
- 'Out of control' -
Trump's envoy to Africa, Massad Boulos, held talks in Sudan's neighbour Egypt on Sunday with Cairo's Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, and then on Monday with the Arab League.
During their discussions, Abdelatty stressed "the importance of concerted efforts to reach a humanitarian truce and a ceasefire throughout Sudan, paving the way for a comprehensive political process in the country", according to a foreign ministry statement.
According to the Arab League, Boulos met the regional body's chief Ahmed Aboul-Gheit and briefed him on recent US efforts in Sudan to "halt the war, expedite aid delivery and initiate a political process".
The Quad has been engaged in months of diplomacy aimed at securing a truce in the more than 30-month conflict in Sudan.
In September, the four powers proposed a three-month humanitarian truce, followed by a permanent ceasefire and a nine-month transition to civilian rule, but the army-aligned government immediately rejected the plan at the time.
In the aftermath of the RSF's assault on El-Fasher, reports emerged of mass killings, sexual violence, attacks on aid workers, looting and abductions during the offensive.
The International Criminal Court on Monday voiced "profound alarm and deepest concern" over the reports, adding that such acts "may constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity".
Speaking at a forum in Qatar, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on the warring parties Tuesday to "come to the negotiating table, bring an end to this nightmare of violence -- now".
- 'Do not kill children' -
In Sudan's capital Khartoum, which is under army control, children took part in an anti-paramilitary protest on Monday.
One pupil held up a handwritten sign that read: "Do not kill children, do not kill women."
"The militia is killing the women of El-Fasher with no mercy," another sign said.
Both sides in the war have been accused of committing atrocities.
The UAE is accused by the UN of supplying arms to the RSF -- allegations it has repeatedly denied.
Meanwhile, the Sudanese army has received support from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Iran, according to observers.
The fall of El-Fasher gave paramilitaries control over all five state capitals in Darfur, raising fears that Sudan would effectively be partitioned along an east-west axis.
The RSF now dominates Darfur and parts of the south, while the army holds the north, east and central regions along the Nile and Red Sea.
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