Sudan’s armed forces (SAF), allied with the Joint Forces, recaptured several positions in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state, over a week ago, following heavy clashes with Rapid Support Forces (RSF), who had launched a major offensive to tighten their grip on the region.
In their largest mobilisation in the area in more than a year, RSF fighters entered the city for the first time since imposing a strict siege and engaging in recurrent hostilities with army troops. Clashes resumed this month after a weeks-long pause, reigniting the battle for control.
El Fasher, the only major city that is not under RSF control in the western Darfur region, has witnessed mounting violence this year amid intensified fighting between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary troops.
The prolonged siege of the city has triggered a severe humanitarian crisis for the hundreds of thousands of civilians caught in the crossfire. Residents are facing critical shortages of food, clean water, and medical supplies, and famine is growing, as repeated RSF shelling and drone strikes have heavily damaged health facilities. The crisis has been worsened by sustained assaults from the paramilitary militia over the past year.
“The situation is terrible. Civilians are being bombed, starved, looted, and attacked as they try to escape”, Mathilde Vu, advocacy manager at the Norwegian Refugee Council, told The New Arab from Juba.
A report published by Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in early July unveils a consistent pattern of violence in El Fasher, including looting, mass killings, sexual violence, abductions, forced starvation, and deliberate attacks on markets, healthcare facilities, and other civilian infrastructure.
Since April-May of last year, fighting has escalated in El Fasher, trapping civilians in relentless attacks. The RSF and allied militias have indiscriminately bombed civilian areas and systematically targeted non-Arab communities.
Talking to The New Arab, Jehanne Henry, a human rights lawyer and researcher focusing on Sudan, highlighted the ethnic dimension of the violence, noting that the Arab-majority RSF has aimed at African groups, especially the Zaghawa, who have sided with the SAF in defending the area.
Three months ago, the rebel group launched a large-scale ground offensive on the Zamzam IDP camp, about 15 km south of El Fasher, which had been the largest displacement camp in the country. Most of its residents either escaped into Tawila, 60km away, or fled to North Darfur’s besieged capital, where they remain cut off from humanitarian aid and facing continued attacks.
Since April’s massive assault on Zamzam camp, Tawila has taken in nearly 379,000 displaced people, at least 303,000 in April alone and more than 24,200 in June.
“Those who manage to flee often travel on foot or by donkey for two to three days, arriving in Tawila exhausted, hungry, thirsty, sometimes wounded”, Vu said.
The advocacy advisor spoke about the near absence of humanitarian organisations in El Fasher, emphasising how local youths are stepping in to feed trapped civilians through community-led efforts. Because it’s too dangerous to run communal kitchens amid open fighting, local responders deliver food directly to people’s shelters to avoid crowds and keep civilians safe.
“Instead of running for their lives, they chose to stay and help the community as there’s no aid coming in”, the NRC’s staff uttered.
In light of the ethnic rampage witnessed in Zamzam, MSF warns that similar atrocities may be replicated in El Fasher.
The UN voiced serious alarm over spiralling hostilities in El Fasher. Local sources report civilian casualties as a result of intense clashes in recent days.
Regular shelling and the armed blockade by RSF forces have left civilians without access to lifesaving assistance.
Relief convoys are coming under attack, hospitals are being bombed, and basic supplies are being denied, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Confirmed famine in parts of El Fasher in 2024 has further compounded the needs of newly arrived IDPs.
“The situation remains highly volatile and unpredictable, with a serious risk of renewed violence, as well as further displacement and disruption of humanitarian operations –which are already under severe strain,” OCHA said.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) believes both government forces and the Rapid Support Force may be committing war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide in Darfur.
Since April 2024, RSF forces have been trying to take over the strategic city in a bid to assert its dominance in Darfur, and make up for territorial losses elsewhere amid a civil war in Sudan that has raged for more than two years. While the Sudanese military has regained much of the capital Khartoum and holds firm control over the country’s centre and east, the paramilitary force is concentrating its efforts on consolidating power in the western regions.
The SAF is coordinating with former rebel groups that signed the 2020 Juba Peace Agreement, along with local popular resistance groups, to continue protecting El Fasher against the RSF forces’ brutal siege and recurring attacks.
Sudan’s civil war, which began in April 2023 after long-simmering tensions erupted between the army and the paramilitary RSF, has killed tens of thousands and displaced nearly 13 million people, according to UN agencies. The conflict has plunged over half the population into hunger and sparked outbreaks of diseases like cholera, overwhelming the country’s collapsed health system.
In Darfur, the ongoing rainy season, which is expected to last through October, threatens to deepen what’s considered the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.
Vu warned that heavy rains could bring a cascade of devastating consequences: flooding roads, destroying shelters, overflowing latrines, easing the spread of diseases, restricting humanitarian access, delaying the supply of goods, and driving up market prices.
El Fasher is one of the oldest cities in Darfur, historically and politically. Once the capital of the former Sultanate of Darfur, it served as the cultural and religious centre of the region. Over time, it has evolved into an administrative, diplomatic and cultural hub.
“El Fasher isn’t just the capital of North Darfur, it symbolises the heart of all Darfur”, said Jihad Mashamoun, a research and political analyst on Sudan and Horn of Africa affairs.
The city is home to diverse ethnic groups from across Sudan, most notably African tribes like the Zaghawa and Masalit, and is known for strong social cohesion among its tribal communities.
It holds a strategic position in North Darfur as the only major city accessible from other parts of northern Sudan, serving as a hub for agriculture, livestock, and trade. Its proximity to Chad and Libya also makes it a prime military gateway for any party seeking control over the region.
Henry, who’s an associate fellow at the Middle East Institute, underlined that El Fasher’s location along the route to Libya is strategically important, as the flow of weapons through this corridor can supply both sides of the conflict.
Moreover, she pointed out the importance of the city’s diverse demography: “It’s a very cosmopolitan urban centre, with many different ethnic groups. The government has built alliances with various tribes there”, the scholar said.
The RSF’s latest mass buildup in and around El Fasher suggests a broader push to force the army out of the city and dominate resupply channels critical for sustaining operations in the region. Its capture would be a significant win for the group, solidifying its control over Darfur and enabling further advances into northwestern Sudan.
“If El Fasher falls to the RSF, they would gain full control over the entire region, including its natural resources and trade routes”, MEI’s expert added.
Mashamoun pointed out that the RSF has been cementing its grip on the city, using its position as a key logistics link to access unimpeded supply lines from Libya, Chad and South Sudan for stockpiling advanced weapons.
However, he also noted, despite the ongoing blockade and repeated assaults, the paramilitary group and its allies have failed to capture the army’s headquarters or take El Fasher.
For the Sudan specialist, it is unlikely that the Rapid Support Force will seize the city, given the strong internal resistance they are likely to face from the local population. “El Fasher represents the last stand. Men and women alike are armed and ready to defend their homeland to the death”, he stated.
The army and RSF remain locked in a brutal standoff, with civilians caught in the middle enduring unrelenting violence, a suffocating blockade, and severe shortages of essential supplies. Most are unable to flee the city due to insecurity and lack of transport.
Mashamoun admitted that the conflict shows no signs of ending. “We don’t know when this will end. But it won’t until the supply routes are cut off, and the RSF stops receiving arms”, the Sudanese researcher affirmed.
In addition, Henry observed, the increased “sophistication of weapons”, including artillery shelling and drone strikes, has made the situation more complicated.
“The urban fighting has taken a devastating toll on civilians, with mass atrocities happening left and right in Darfur”.
Alessandra Bajec is a freelance journalist specialising in the Middle East and North Africa. Previously living in Palestine, then in Cairo, she is currently based in Tunis.