The western Sudanese city of El-Fasher has become a deadly flashpoint in Sudan’s ongoing civil war, as paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) launched a major offensive, capturing key areas including a livestock market, a prison, and a military base, before being pushed back by government forces. The intense battle, which lasted over seven hours, marks the RSF’s most significant incursion into El-Fasher since the siege began 15 months ago, further intensifying fears of a humanitarian catastrophe in the last military-controlled city in Darfur.
According to eyewitnesses and humanitarian workers, RSF fighters stormed the city from the south and southwest, broadcasting footage of themselves in abandoned livestock markets and claiming temporary control of Shalla prison and the Central Reserve Forces headquarters. The Sudanese army responded on Saturday, driving RSF fighters beyond the city’s limits, but shelling, particularly via drone strikes continued into the evening. One strike reportedly killed five civilians in a car near a residential area.
Mathilde Vu, advocacy manager for the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), described El-Fasher as a “death trap,” citing continuous shelling, starvation, and desperate efforts by local volunteers risking their lives to deliver food. The RSF has launched 220 offensives on the city, and their latest attack came after weeks of escalating artillery and drone assaults. The group has recently employed large drone aircraft, raising new concerns over external military support.
The Sudanese army has accused the United Arab Emirates (UAE) of backing the RSF, a claim the Gulf nation has denied. The renewed violence follows the RSF’s capture of the massive Zamzam displacement camp earlier this year, leading to a mass exodus toward Tawila, a town now overwhelmed by nearly 379,000 displaced people facing cholera outbreaks and the threat of floods.
Inside El-Fasher, the humanitarian situation is dire. With no access to food, medicine, or basic supplies, residents have resorted to eating “ombaz,” a byproduct of peanut oil processing. Now, even that has vanished as factories shut down. “Even if you have money, there’s nothing to buy,” one resident told the BBC. “We are calling out for help please we urgently need assistance.”
The United Nations estimates that over 150,000 people have died since Sudan descended into civil war in April 2023, with 12 million displaced, making it the world’s largest humanitarian crisis. Despite the scale of the disaster, funding and international engagement have dwindled. “People here are surviving only through local solidarity,” said Ms Vu, urging global powers to do more.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) recently stated there are “reasonable grounds” to believe war crimes and crimes against humanity are being committed in Darfur. The U.S. government has also formally declared that the RSF and its allied militias are responsible for genocide against non-Arab populations in the region.
As El-Fasher teeters on the brink, Sudan’s civil war shows no signs of ending, and the world watches a mounting atrocity unfold with tragic silence.
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