In Abu Shouk and El-Fasher: How Many Bloody Dawns Have Passed Here?
Sudan Events – Agencies
At dawn on August 11, the streets of El-Fasher and the Abu Shouk displacement camp turned into a scene of carnage after a fierce assault by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Tents and homes collapsed under barrages of artillery and drone strikes, leaving dozens dead and wounded amid a humanitarian catastrophe that has gripped the besieged city for more than fifteen months. With hospitals destroyed, medicine scarce, and even life-saving drugs unavailable, survivors bound their wounds with scraps of cloth as one desperate plea echoed: “Save those who remain before war consumes them too.”
Abu Shouk camp, established in 2003 to shelter those fleeing Darfur’s first war, is one of Sudan’s largest displacement sites, housing tens of thousands who endure daily hunger and the absence of life’s most basic necessities. Located just five kilometers north of El-Fasher, the camp has become a frontline in recent weeks as clashes intensified around the city. UN agencies have repeatedly warned of an imminent humanitarian catastrophe amid collapsed health services, food shortages, and the cutoff of aid. The latest attack added yet another chapter of suffering, deepening fears of further violence against civilians.
The Attack Unfolds
The assault began around 6 a.m., when reconnaissance drones appeared in the sky, followed by heavy artillery fire from three directions: the northeast toward Abu Shouk camp, the southwest near the livestock market and southern districts of El-Fasher, and the southeast with less intensity.
Munir Tirab, a member of El-Fasher’s joint humanitarian emergency committee, told Atar: “The RSF used hundreds of vehicles in the attack, including armored carriers and four-wheel drives mounted with heavy and light weapons.” He said the attackers failed to penetrate the camp’s center but pushed into northern blocks with about 45 vehicles, where several displaced residents were executed.
Eyewitnesses reported to Atar that scores of civilians in Abu Shouk’s northern blocks were summarily killed in their homes, while others remain missing. Tirab said even women in the camp joined the defense with light weapons.
The assault exacerbated El-Fasher’s worsening humanitarian crisis. Wounded residents faced severe shortages of medicines and surgical supplies; some underwent makeshift procedures without full medical supervision, while others used cloth to stem bleeding. Only limited facilities, including the military hospital and part of the Saudi hospital, continue to function at minimal capacity.
Despite the scale of the attack, there was no mass displacement this time. “Residents have grown accustomed to attacks,” Tirab said, explaining that many rely on trenches dug into their homes for protection. Water remains available in part through solar pumps and wells, but electricity is scarce.
The RSF’s offensive—among the fiercest since the siege began—failed to breach the city or camp. By the following day, the Neifasha market reopened partially as residents buried the dead.
The El-Fasher Resistance Committees documented what they described as a “barbaric” assault on Abu Shouk, reporting at least 40 killed and 19 wounded.
Executions in Homes and Trenches
But the chief of Abu Shouk camp, Saif al-Din Hussein Sajo, put the death toll at no fewer than 44, with many others critically wounded amid a near-total collapse of health and humanitarian services. He described the attack as the most violent since the siege began.
Sajo noted that most victims were young men, some executed in trenches and homes. Communication blackouts and security risks hindered the evacuation of bodies and casualties, leaving authorities unable to determine how many women and children were among the dead.
With most injured receiving treatment at home, open wounds remain untreated and life-threatening. Some residents fled internally and externally after the attack, though their destinations remain unclear.
Food and shelter conditions worsened drastically after the shelling, with water, electricity, and communications largely cut. Local resistance committees continue to resist RSF advances while emergency teams tend to the wounded with scarce supplies. Sajo appealed to local and international organizations to intervene urgently with humanitarian aid and to press all sides to halt the fighting.
Meanwhile, the RSF claimed battlefield gains in El-Fasher, saying it was closing in on the army’s Sixth Division headquarters.
Three Axes of Fire
Ahmed Abdullah, head of the NGO Mashad, told Atar the RSF attack deployed drones, heavy artillery, and a ground assault from the northwest, southwest, and east simultaneously. He said dozens were killed—including eight children—as artillery flattened entire neighborhoods.
Despite its size and firepower, the RSF advance met resistance from Sudanese army troops. Witnesses reported executions in homes, including the killing of a teacher and six young men. Many residents fled toward Abu Shouk in a new wave of displacement, but with no reliable shelter, food, water, or power.
The attack also struck El-Fasher’s cultural landmarks, including the historic palace of Sultan Ali Dinar, which has been battered throughout the siege.
On August 11, displacement-tracking teams reported some 500 people fleeing Abu Shouk due to escalating insecurity, relocating to other parts of El-Fasher. The situation, they said, remains “volatile and rapidly changing.”
Now, as a tense calm blankets El-Fasher and Abu Shouk lies in ruins, the stench of gunpowder and blood lingers in the alleys, bearing witness to a day etched into the city’s memory. Calls for relief and an end to the fighting still echo unanswered, as hunger and disease tighten their grip on those who survived the shelling. And with each dawn that breaks over El-Fasher, the same painful question returns: how many more bloody mornings must pass before the bleeding stops?
