Far from the capitals where diplomats speak of ceasefires, a city in western Sudan has become the place where a year-old war is being decided in blood. In El-Fasher, the last major Darfur stronghold still held by the army, shells are now falling on homes, markets and displacement camps, and the dead include a humanitarian worker killed in her own house. The fight is between the military and the RSF paramilitary, which has gathered militia allies around the city and is pressing it with a siege and assault, while the wider nation teeters toward famine. Whether the people caught in that struggle
Over 100 Killed in Two Weeks of Fighting for Sudan's El-Fasher, Aid Group Says
At least 123 people killed and more than 930 wounded in two weeks of fighting, with thousands forced to flee their homes.
The last stronghold in Darfur still held by the military
Mark
Why does El-Fasher matter so much in a war that's already been going on for over a year?
Mimi
Because it's the last stronghold in Darfur still held by the military. The RSF has besieged it and attacked from the south and east, so whoever wins it shapes the whole region.
Mark
The numbers are stark: 123 dead, more than 930 wounded.
Luke
Worth noting that's Doctors Without Borders' count, covering a bit over two weeks. It's one organization's tally, and the report doesn't say how it was compiled or whether it captures everyone killed outside medical facilities.
Mimi
Fair, and the group itself frames it as a sign of intensity rather than a final toll.
Mark
What about the people living there?
Mimi
Thousands have fled, according to the UN. And fighting returned to Abu Shouk, a camp for displaced people, so some are being displaced twice.
Luke
Though the report doesn't say how many people were in the camp or how many were hurt there. We know clashes happened, not what they cost.
Mark
And the aid worker killed on Saturday?
Mimi
A shell hit the worker's house near the main market. The charity reported it; it shows that even people trying to help are exposed.
Luke
What's still unknown is who fired the shell. The reporting doesn't attribute it.
Mark
And the famine warning?
Mimi
The UN food agency says starvation risk is serious if aid isn't allowed into Darfur. It's a warning, not a declaration that famine has arrived.
Il Polso
- A Doctors Without Borders worker was killed when a shell hit her house near El-Fasher's main market, a sudden reminder that no one inside the city is out of reach.
- More than 123 people are dead and over 930 wounded after two weeks of fighting, and thousands have fled their homes in the rush of violence.
- The RSF and its janjaweed allies have besieged El-Fasher and launched a major assault on its southern and eastern districts, aiming to seize the army's last Darfur foothold.
- Clashes have spread to the Abu Shouk displacement camp, Salam and the southwest, trapping people who had already been uprooted once before.
- Aid agencies are pleading with both sides to open humanitarian access and protect civilians, with famine warnings hanging over the entire region.
Far from the capitals where diplomats speak of ceasefires, a city in western Sudan has become the place where a year-old war is being decided in blood. In El-Fasher, the last major Darfur stronghold still held by the army, shells are now falling on homes, markets and displacement camps, and the dead include a humanitarian worker killed in her own house. The fight is between the military and the RSF paramilitary, which has gathered militia allies around the city and is pressing it with a siege and assault, while the wider nation teeters toward famine. Whether the people caught in that struggle will be reached by aid and spared from harm remains an open question.
On Saturday a shell struck a house near the main market in El-Fasher, Sudan, and killed a Doctors Without Borders worker inside. The charity reported her death a day later, as part of a grim tally of more than two weeks of fighting: at least 123 dead and more than 930 wounded.
El-Fasher, capital of North Darfur, has become the centre of the war between the army and the Rapid Support Forces. It is the last stronghold in the region still held by the military, and both sides are fighting for it. The RSF, backed by Arab militias known as janjaweed, built up its forces around the city in recent months, then besieged it and launched a major attack on its southern and eastern parts earlier this month. The UN says thousands have been forced from their homes.
The violence has not eased. Clashes renewed on Thursday in the Abu Shouk displacement camp, in the Salam neighbourhood and in the southwest of the city, catching people who had already been driven from their homes by earlier fighting. Doctors Without Borders called the toll a sign of the intensity of the battle and urged both parties to do more to protect civilians.
The battle is part of a war that erupted in April of last year and has killed more than 14,000 people. Rights groups describe widespread sexual violence and atrocities that may amount to war crimes. The UN food agency has warned that Darfur and other parts of Sudan face a serious risk of mass starvation unless aid is allowed in. The question now is whether either side will open the way for aid and show it will spare the civilians still trapped in El-Fasher.
On Saturday, a shell struck the house of a Doctors Without Borders worker near the main market in El-Fasher, Sudan, and killed the worker. The charity reported the death a day later, as part of a broader accounting of more than two weeks of fighting in the city: at least 123 people dead and more than 930 wounded.
El-Fasher is the capital of North Darfur province, in the western Darfur region. It is now the centre of the war between Sudan's military and the Rapid Support Forces, the paramilitary group known as the RSF. The city is the last stronghold in the sprawling region still held by the military, which is why both sides are fighting over it.
The RSF is aided by Arab militias commonly known as janjaweed. According to the report, it built up forces around El-Fasher in recent months in an effort to wrest control of the city. Together with its militia allies it besieged El-Fasher, then launched a major attack on the southern and eastern parts of the city earlier this month. The United Nations says the escalation has forced thousands of people from their homes.
The fighting has not let up. The UN's International Organization for Migration reported that clashes renewed on Thursday in the Abu Shouk camp for displaced people, in the Salam neighbourhood in the northern part of the city, and in the southwestern parts of El-Fasher. People who had already been uprooted by earlier violence are among those caught in the latest fighting.
Doctors Without Borders said the casualty figures reflect how violent the fighting has been. "This is a sign of the violent intensity of the fighting," the group said, and it urged the warring parties to do more to protect civilians.
The battle for El-Fasher is part of a war that began in April of last year, when tensions between the military and RSF leaders exploded into open fighting in the capital, Khartoum, and elsewhere. That conflict has killed more than 14,000 people and wounded thousands more. Rights groups say reports of widespread sexual violence and other atrocities amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The war has also pushed the country toward the brink of famine. Earlier this month, the UN food agency warned both sides that there is a serious risk of widespread starvation and death in Darfur and elsewhere in Sudan if they do not allow humanitarian aid into the vast western region.
What to watch now is whether the military and the RSF grant aid access to Darfur and whether either shows any sign of heeding calls to protect civilians in El-Fasher, where the fighting continues.
Citazioni salienti
This is a sign of the violent intensity of the fighting. We urge the warring parties to do more to protect civilians.— Doctors Without Borders
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