PORT SUDAN – Thousands of civilians remained trapped in Sudan’s stricken city of El-Fasher, with fears growing for their safety, the United Nations and local groups said yesterday after paramilitary forces claimed control of the army’s last stronghold in the western Darfur region.
Since May 2024, El-Fasher has been besieged by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), who have been fighting a brutal war with Sudan’s army for over two years.
Footage shared by pro-democracy activists on Monday purportedly showed dozens of people lying dead on the ground alongside burned-out vehicles.
AFP was unable to contact civilians in the city, where the Sudanese Journalists’ Syndicate says communications, including satellite networks, have been cut off by a media blackout.
The syndicate expressed “deep concern for the safety of journalists” in El-Fasher, adding that independent reporter Muammar Ibrahim has been detained by RSF forces since Sunday.
The RSF said on Sunday they had seized control of the city, but the army and its allies did not respond to requests for comment.
If confirmed, the city’s capture would mark a significant turning point in Sudan’s war, which has killed tens of thousands and displaced nearly 12 million people since April 2023.
It would give the RSF control over all five state capitals in Darfur, consolidating its parallel administration in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur.
Such a shift could potentially partition Sudan, with the army holding the north, east and centre, and the RSF dominating Darfur and parts of the south.
“This represents a terrible escalation in the conflict,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in answer to an AFP question on Monday, adding that “the level of suffering that we are witnessing in Sudan is unbearable.”
Around 260 000 civilians, half of them children, remain trapped in El-Fasher without aid, where many have resorted to eating animal fodder.
Despite RSF assurances of civilian protection, the local resistance committee accused the paramilitaries of committing atrocities, saying that since Sunday, innocent civilians had suffered “the worst forms of violence and ethnic cleansing.”
A video circulated by the RSF appeared to show fighters detaining dozens of men in civilian clothing accusing them of supporting the army and the Joint Forces.
Fighting, pro-democracy activists said on Sunday night, continued “in the vicinity of El-Fasher airport and several areas west of the city,” with a “complete absence of air support”, citing failures by the army and its allies to protect residents.
The army-aligned governor of Darfur yesterday called for the protection of civilians in El-Fasher and demanded “an independent investigation into the violations and massacres carried out by the militia away from public view.”
–Nampa/AFP