By: The Trek News Desk
A humanitarian catastrophe is unfolding in Sudan’s Darfur region after the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) seized control of El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur. What was once the last major stronghold of the Sudanese army in the region has now become a graveyard of atrocities.
Survivors who managed to escape the city are recounting chilling tales of mass killings, sexual violence, abductions, and extortion, while thousands remain unaccounted for.
According to the United Nations (UN) and multiple aid agencies, conditions for civilians trapped in El-Fasher are “inhuman and deeply alarming.” The city fell on Sunday after an 18-month-long siege, marking a grim turning point in Sudan’s ongoing civil war.
“A friend from university saved me; everyone else was killed”
Among the few who escaped alive is 27-year-old Alkheir Ismail, who fled to the nearby town of Tawila. He recalled being stopped by RSF fighters along with 300 others while trying to leave El-Fasher.
“One of the fighters recognised me from university in Khartoum and told them not to kill me. But they shot the rest of my friends and everyone else,” he said.
Other survivors in Tawila described similar scenes of violence and humiliation. Tahani Hassan, another survivor, recounted:
“They appeared suddenly, three young men with guns. They fired in the air and told us to stop. They beat us, threw away our clothes, and even searched me, a woman, roughly. The soldier was younger than my daughter.”
“Many are being held for ransom or executed on the spot”
According to Doctors Without Borders (MSF), over 62,000 people fled El-Fasher between Sunday and Wednesday, but only around 5,000 reached Tawila safely.
MSF’s emergency director Michel Olivier Lacharité warned that testimonies indicate many others “are being killed, blocked, or hunted down while trying to flee.”
Of the 70 children under five who arrived in Tawila on October 27, every single one was acutely malnourished, with 57 per cent suffering from severe acute malnutrition, the organisation said.
MSF reported that RSF fighters are separating civilians by gender, age, and ethnicity, detaining many for ransom. Families have been forced to pay between 5 and 30 million Sudanese pounds ($8,000–$50,000) for the release of loved ones.
Massacre inside a hospital: Over 460 killed
The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) confirmed that at least 460 people were killed by RSF troops on October 29 inside El-Fasher’s maternity hospital, including patients, healthcare workers, and displaced civilians sheltering there.
The agency warned the actual death toll could be “significantly higher.”
One survivor, a 24-year-old man, said only four of 200 people in his group survived after paying ransom money.
Another survivor, a 26-year-old woman, said: “My husband paid to save me and our children. They killed him right in front of us.”
Violence spreads to North Kordofan
The terror is not confined to Darfur. In North Kordofan, around 36,000 civilians have fled the Bara locality, captured by RSF last week.
UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric confirmed reports of “summary execution of five Red Crescent volunteers” and cases of sexual violence in the area.
Mohammed Elsheikh, spokesperson for the Sudan Doctors Network, told The Trek News from Manchester that those fleeing face extreme conditions:
“It’s a brutal journey through the desert scorching heat by day, cold at night. Many are walking for days without food or water.”
Just months ago, in July, RSF fighters stormed several villages in North Kordofan, killing nearly 300 people, including children and pregnant women.
“The world cannot stay silent anymore”
Aid agencies and the UN have appealed to the United States, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Egypt to intervene and pressure both warring sides toward a ceasefire.
Human rights organisations accuse both the RSF and the Sudanese army of war crimes, as the conflict has already killed tens of thousands and displaced over 14 million people.
Sudan now stands at the centre of what the UN describes as “the world’s worst humanitarian crisis”, a deadly mix of war, hunger, disease, and displacement that shows no sign of ending.
Source: News Agencies
