Dozens of Civilian Deaths in El Fasher, Darfur

Sudan Events – Agencies

Dozens of civilians were killed in the city of El Fasher in the Darfur region of western Sudan, according to a medical source and local activists on Thursday, amid escalating clashes and growing fears of a potential assault on the city by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

The “Resistance Committees in El Fasher” reported that the civilians were killed on Wednesday in clashes and shelling carried out by the RSF, which has been engaged in a war with the army since April 2023.

The violence erupted just days after more than 400 people were killed in RSF attacks on El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur State, and nearby displacement camps, according to the United Nations.

The Sudanese army estimated the number of deaths on Wednesday at 62 people, including 15 children aged between three and ten, in addition to dozens of injuries.
In a statement, the army said it had repelled a “fierce attack” on the eastern side of the city, in coordination with the “Joint Forces” consisting of armed struggle movements, intelligence, police, mobilized civilians, and the popular resistance. The army added that the RSF had conducted “random shelling of the city at intervals.”

El Fasher is being defended by armed groups allied with the army, known as the “Joint Forces,” which in recent months have repeatedly cut RSF supply lines.

Experts describe the battle for El Fasher as “vital” for the Sudanese army and its allies.

The RSF has besieged El Fasher for months in an attempt to seize it, as it remains the last major city in Darfur under army control. The RSF controls most of the vast region in western Sudan.

A Hundred Shells Daily

According to Mohamed, a displaced volunteer from the “Zamzam” camp who fled to El Fasher, the shelling has not stopped in recent days.

Mohamed told AFP that he was shot during the RSF attack on Zamzam earlier this week. Due to the lack of medical facilities, he and hundreds of injured people received basic treatment in a house within the camp before he was carried into El Fasher for further care.

Mohamed said that medicines had run out in El Fasher, which no longer had “painkillers or essential supplies… we use cauterization with fire to treat and sterilize wounds.”

Central El Fasher is being hit with “a hundred shells a day,” according to Mohamed, who requested that his family name not be published for security reasons. There are no civilian shelters.

The United Nations has warned of dire consequences if the RSF storms the city, which is already suffering from severe food insecurity.

Around 825,000 children live in the El Fasher area in what UNICEF described as a “hell on earth.”

Hundreds of Thousands Displaced

The war, now entering its third year as of last Tuesday, has killed tens of thousands and displaced 13 million people, in what the UN describes as the world’s largest hunger and displacement crisis.

The conflict has also effectively divided the country in two: the army controls the center, north, and east, while the RSF controls nearly all of Darfur and parts of the south with its allies.

Following a major attack launched last Friday in Darfur, the RSF announced on Sunday that it had fully taken control of the Zamzam refugee camp, which housed around one million refugees, according to aid sources.

The attack led to the displacement of at least 400,000 camp residents to nearby cities. The “Emergency Room,” a civilian volunteer group in the nearby town of Tawila, reported that the newly displaced are “suffering from a lack of food, drinking water, and shelter materials,” with no humanitarian aid available in the region.

Zamzam was the first area in Sudan to be officially declared famine-stricken in August last year. By December, famine had spread to two other camps in Darfur, according to a UN-backed assessment.

The United Nations warned that many displaced persons may still be trapped inside Zamzam.