RSF Siege Starves Al-Fashir as 14 Civilians Die Trying to Escape

The humanitarian crisis in Sudan’s war-torn city of Al-Fashir is deteriorating rapidly as the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) intensify artillery and drone attacks on the last army-held stronghold in Darfur. Residents told Reuters that electricity is cut, bakeries have closed and medical supplies are scarce, pushing hundreds of thousands of civilians toward famine. Many families are reduced to eating animal fodder, with basic goods reportedly costing more than five times the national average. Attempts to flee the siege carry lethal risks. The rights group Emergency Lawyers said RSF fighters killed at least 14 civilians and injured dozens more on Saturday in a village along a route northwest of the city, days after the RSF urged residents to evacuate. Witnesses described robberies, kidnappings and killings on roads leading to the town of Tawila, about 60 km away, which itself is hosting more than half a million displaced people. Public-health conditions are worsening in displacement sites. Médecins Sans Frontières has treated 2,500 cholera cases since mid-June, and local monitors report 52 related deaths. A Norwegian Refugee Council assessment found only 10 % of Tawila’s population has reliable access to water, with most families eating one meal a day or less. The United Nations has called for a humanitarian pause during the rainy season, but the RSF has rejected the appeal. The fall of Al-Fashir would hand the RSF effective control over almost all of Darfur, raising the prospect of Sudan’s de facto partition more than two years after fighting between the RSF and the army erupted in April 2023. Diplomatic efforts remain stalled as foreign aid cuts strain relief operations across the region.