The United Nations and humanitarian organizations have sounded the alarm over the rapidly deteriorating situation in El-Fasher, the capital of Sudan’s North Darfur region, warning of escalating risks of atrocities and ethnically motivated violence. They called for urgent international action to protect civilians and open safe humanitarian corridors amid acute shortages of food and medicine.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said the risk of atrocities in El-Fasher “is growing by the day,” citing reports of summary executions of civilians attempting to flee and evidence of ethnically motivated killings. His office has also received reports that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) detained hundreds of people, including a journalist, while heavy shelling between October 22 and 26 killed civilians and aid workers. He added that food shortages are severe, prices have soared, and five men were summarily executed while trying to deliver food.
Türk urged the RSF—which announced it had seized control of the city—to take immediate steps to end abuses against civilians in El-Fasher and Bara, including ethnically targeted attacks and acts of reprisal. He reminded RSF leaders of their obligations under international humanitarian law to protect civilians and allow humanitarian access, stressing that starvation must not be used as a weapon of war.
In a separate statement, UN Secretary-General António Guterres expressed deep concern over the escalating conflict, condemning reports of violations of international humanitarian and human rights law in El-Fasher. These include indiscriminate attacks, targeting of civilian infrastructure, gender-based violence, and ethnically driven assaults. Guterres called for the safe delivery of humanitarian aid to affected populations.
On the humanitarian front, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said it had received hundreds of people fleeing El-Fasher at an emergency medical point near Tawila, with arrivals surging to about 1,000 in a single night — including dozens of critical cases. Of 165 children under five screened among the new arrivals, 75% were acutely malnourished, including 26% suffering from severe acute malnutrition — a stark indicator of famine conditions after more than 500 days of siege, blocked aid convoys, and bombardment of markets and community kitchens.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported that fighting had displaced around 26,000 people from the area, while UN agencies warned that roughly 250,000 civilians remain trapped in the city. UNICEF estimated that 130,000 children are caught in the crossfire, facing severe shortages of food, clean water, and medicine. The agency called for an immediate ceasefire and unhindered humanitarian access to all affected communities.
UN Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Tom Fletcher warned that as fighting intensifies and escape routes are cut off, “hundreds of thousands of civilians are trapped, terrified, being shelled, starving, and deprived of health care and safety.” He urged the creation of safe corridors for those trying to flee.
The Joint Force of armed movements allied with the Sudanese army accused the RSF of committing atrocities against civilians, claiming in a statement that over 2,000 people—mostly women, children, and the elderly—were killed on October 26 and 27. Reuters could not independently verify the death toll. The group held the RSF and its allies fully responsible for what it described as war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide, urging the UN to classify the RSF as a terrorist organization and prosecute its leaders.
The Sudanese Doctors’ Network said RSF forces in El-Fasher abducted six medical workers—including four doctors, a pharmacist, and a nurse—who had continued treating patients throughout the siege. The abductors reportedly demanded a ransom of SDG 100m (around $165,000) per doctor. The network condemned the act as a deliberate assault on the health system in Darfur. It appealed to the World Health Organization (WHO) and other international bodies to intervene on their behalf for their release.
El-Fasher’s Resistance Committees said some volunteers from community kitchens had reached safe areas, but the fate of most doctors, nurses, and aid workers remained unknown. They added that many civilians still in the city had been killed or disappeared — claims that could not be independently verified.
African Union Commission Chairperson Mahamat Ali Youssouf condemned what he described as “atrocities and war crimes” in El-Fasher and expressed grave concern over the escalating violence. The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) said it had lost contact with its medical team at El-Fasher’s Women and Maternity Hospital, the last functioning hospital in the city.
Sudan’s Foreign Ministry accused the RSF of carrying out systematic ethnic killings and terror against civilians, saying the siege and starvation of El-Fasher’s population were deliberate acts. The ministry called on the international community to enforce UN Security Council Resolution 2736, adopted on June 13, 2024, which demanded an end to the siege and attacks on the city. The RSF has not commented on the allegations.
The RSF said Sunday it had taken full control of El-Fasher following its largest assault since the war began in April 2023, claiming to have seized the army’s 6th Infantry Division headquarters and several neighborhoods. The Sudanese army has not yet responded publicly. In a televised address, Sudanese Army Chief and Sovereign Council Leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan said the city’s leadership had evacuated after “heavy destruction and killings” by RSF forces, vowing that the military would “restore territory and avenge the victims.”
Located about 800 kilometers west of Khartoum, El-Fasher is one of Sudan’s largest cities and the army’s main stronghold in Darfur. If the RSF’s takeover is confirmed, it would give the paramilitary control of all five Darfur states, effectively dividing Sudan between an army-held east and an RSF-held west.
Since 15 April 2023, Sudan’s war between the army and the RSF has killed tens of thousands and displaced more than 15 million people, according to UN and local estimates. While earlier reports put the death toll near 20,000, a U.S. university study estimated up to 130,000 fatalities.
The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) has called for an immediate ceasefire amid growing international appeals to open humanitarian corridors and end the siege. Despite multiple regional and international mediation efforts, no lasting truce has been achieved, and UN officials warn of an impending catastrophe in El-Fasher if urgent measures are not taken to protect civilians and halt ethnically driven violence.
