Civilians in Sudan’s North Darfur region are facing a worsening humanitarian crisis as paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) close in on El-Fasher, one of the last major cities still under government control. Reports from local activists and international monitors reveal that thousands of residents remain trapped inside the city, enduring constant shelling, food shortages, and the looming threat of a full-scale assault.
El-Fasher has become the epicenter of Sudan’s brutal war, which erupted in April 2023 following a power struggle between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the RSF. What began as a contest for control of the capital Khartoum has since expanded into Darfur, where longstanding ethnic and political tensions are compounding the violence. With supply routes cut off, humanitarian aid blocked, and communications restricted, civilians are bearing the heaviest burden of the conflict.
Eyewitnesses describe the city as a “ghost town,” with marketplaces destroyed, hospitals overwhelmed, and families hiding in makeshift shelters to escape indiscriminate gunfire. Many residents have gone days without food, clean water, or medical assistance. Local doctors warn that the health system is on the brink of collapse, as critical shortages of medicine and fuel cripple their ability to treat the wounded.
The United Nations and international aid organizations have repeatedly called for safe corridors to deliver assistance, but access has been severely restricted by both warring factions. Aid convoys have been looted or attacked, while civilians attempting to flee have been turned back at checkpoints or caught in crossfire. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has warned that unless access is granted, famine and disease could soon claim more lives than the fighting itself.
The RSF’s tightening siege of El-Fasher mirrors earlier assaults in Darfur, where entire towns were razed and ethnic minority groups targeted in what rights groups have described as crimes against humanity. Residents fear that if the city falls, a similar fate awaits them. For many, the crisis has drawn painful parallels to the early 2000s Darfur conflict, when government-backed militias carried out mass killings, rapes, and forced displacements that shocked the world.
Sudanese civilians and diaspora groups are now urging greater international intervention. Advocacy organizations have accused regional powers of fueling the conflict by supplying weapons and funding to both sides. Calls are growing for the African Union and the United Nations Security Council to impose sanctions, enforce an arms embargo, and pressure both the SAF and RSF to return to peace talks.
Despite these appeals, political will remains weak. International attention has largely shifted elsewhere, leaving Sudan’s civilians to suffer in silence. Humanitarian experts warn that without immediate action, the siege of El-Fasher could mark a deadly new phase of the conflict one with catastrophic consequences not just for Darfur, but for the stability of the entire region.
For now, families in El-Fasher remain trapped between advancing RSF forces and a government struggling to maintain control, with no safe escape and no clear end in sight. The once-vibrant city has become a battleground, its people caught in the crossfire of a war that shows no sign of abating.
Leave a comment