After more than 500 days under siege, El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur in western Sudan, has fallen to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), who pushed out the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF). The 18-month blockade had already brought famine and devastation to the city, marked by indiscriminate shelling and drone attacks by both sides. In Darfur, civilians have suffered starvation, targeted killings, sexual violence, and assaults on refugee camps. The RSF’s capture of the city has now ushered in a new phase of terror: house-to-house searches, arbitrary detentions and summary executions, with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimating that at least 62 000 people fled the El-Fasher area between 26 and 29 October. On 30 October 2025, the UN Security Council (UNSC) held an emergency session condemning the atrocities that followed the RSF’s entry into the city – including the killing of nearly 500 people at the Saudi Maternity Hospital, the only partially functioning health facility that had survived repeated shelling.
The fall of El-Fasher: Sudan’s war outpaces truce plan (Rossella Marangio – EUISS)
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