BRUSSELS, Belgium, Oct 29, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - The European Union on Wednesday denounced what it said was the "brutality" of Sudan's Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group, which recently captured the key city of El-Fasher.

The statement came as reports emerged of mass atrocities there and the killing of five Red Crescent volunteers in Kordofan.

"Civilians being targeted based on their ethnicity underscore the brutality of the Rapid Support Force," said a statement by the EU's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas.

"The Rapid Support Forces bear responsibility for protecting civilians in areas under their control, including aid workers, local responders, and journalists," said the statement, co-signed by the EU's commissioner for crisis management, Hadja Lahbib.

"Humanitarian organisations must be granted immediate, safe and unconditional access to all those in need. Civilians wishing to leave the city must be allowed to do so safely."

After an 18-month siege marked by starvation and bombardment, the city is now under the control of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) -- descendants of the Janjaweed militias accused of genocide two decades ago.

The paramilitary group, locked in a brutal war with the army since April 2023, launched a final assault on the city in recent days, seizing the army's last positions.

In the neighbouring region of North Kordofan, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent said five Sudanese Red Crescent volunteers had been killed in Bara on Monday, and that three others were missing after the RSF took control of the town on Saturday.