UN rights office warns of ongoing atrocities in el-Fasher - may Allah protect the innocent
Assalamu alaikum. The UN’s human rights office in Sudan says brutal attacks are worsening in el-Fasher after the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) took control of the city in Darfur last month. They warn many civilians remain trapped and suffering.
Li Fung, the UN’s human rights representative in Sudan, said in a short video that over the last 10 days el-Fasher has seen an escalation of horrific violence and has become a city of grief. She described survivors of an 18-month siege now facing atrocities beyond imagination.
Hundreds have reportedly been killed, including women, children and wounded people who had sought safety in hospitals and schools. Entire families were cut down as they fled, and others have disappeared.
Aid organisations say thousands who escaped the city are now in dire conditions in towns like Tawila. Adam Rojal, a spokesperson for an aid group working with internally displaced people and refugees, told the Associated Press that more than 16,000 people arrived in Tawila needing food, medicine, shelter materials and psychological help.
Video shared by aid workers shows displaced families in a barren area with too few tents, many using patched tarps and sheets. Some families are surviving on one meal a day. Doctors Without Borders (MSF) reported very high levels of malnutrition among children and adults.
Mathilde Vu from the Norwegian Refugee Council said many families reached Tawila with children who are not their own - children who lost parents along the way, were separated in the chaos, detained, or killed.
Tawila is one of several towns where people fled after the RSF took el-Fasher, the last military stronghold in West Darfur, on October 26. A report from Yale’s Humanitarian Research Lab found evidence of mass killings, including apparent pools of blood visible in satellite images.
The International Organization for Migration estimates about 82,000 people had fled the city and nearby areas as of November 4, heading to Tawila, Kebkabiya, Melit and Kutum. El-Fasher had roughly 260,000 residents before the takeover. UN human rights chief Volker Türk warned that civilians still trapped inside have been prevented from leaving, and he fears summary executions, rape and ethnically motivated violence continue.
As the humanitarian catastrophe in Darfur deepens, the conflict has spread to neighbouring Kordofan. Earlier this week a drone attack in el-Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan, killed at least 40 people and injured dozens more. A military source told the AP the army intercepted two Chinese-made drones targeting el-Obeid.
Fears of a wider RSF advance have grown after the group captured the town of Bara about 60 km north, prompting more than 36,000 people to flee. El-Obeid sits on a key supply route between Darfur and Khartoum; its fall would be strategic for the RSF, which has been fighting Sudan’s army since April 2023.
The World Health Organization estimates at least 40,000 people have been killed, and aid groups warn the real death toll may be much higher. After two years of war there’s little sign of de-escalation, despite a truce proposal from a group of mediators (Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and the US). The RSF gave a positive response to the idea, but fighting and explosions were reported in Khartoum and Atbara the next day.
The proposed plan would start with a three-month humanitarian pause and aim toward a permanent ceasefire and eventual transition to civilian rule. The government, backed by the army, has not publicly accepted the proposal. Darfur Governor Minni Arko Minnawi warned that any ceasefire without the RSF’s withdrawal could lead to Sudan’s division.
The fall of el-Fasher means the RSF now controls all five state capitals in West Darfur, deepening the country’s de-facto split. May Allah protect the innocent, ease the suffering of the displaced, and guide those with power to act with justice and mercy. Please keep the people of Sudan in your du’as.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news