Humanitarian disaster worsens across Sudan after RSF takes over el-Fasher

In spite of the ongoing violence and killings in North Darfur’s el-Fasher, millions of people in Sudan’s war-ravaged region, especially its western regions, still need humanitarian aid.

Despite the fact that a mediation roadmap by mediators has failed to produce a ceasefire, international aid organizations called on the Sudanese armed forces (SAF) and paramilitary rapid support forces (RSF) on Sunday to encourage more aid entry.

After an 18-month siege and hunger campaign, the paramilitary force seized El-Fasher, the state capital of North Darfur, and the situation is still dire.

In the final major city in the western region of Darfur, tens of thousands of civilians are reportedly trapped, and thousands more are still unaccounted for after fleeing El-Fasher.

Only a small percentage of those who eluded El-Fasher’s footpath managed to reach Tawila, a town that is about 50 kilometers (30 miles) away.

Only a few hundred more people have shown up in the town over the past few days, according to a representative from Tawila for an official with a French-based aid organization.

Given how few people were trapped in El-Fasher, those are “very small.” According to Caroline Bouvard, Sudan’s country director for Solidarites International, “we keep hearing that people are stuck on the roads and in various villages that are unfortunately still inaccessible due to security reasons.”

After the RSF takeover, according to Bouvard, there is a “complete blackout” in terms of information coming out of El-Fasher, and aid organizations are gathering information from nearby neighborhoods where up to 15, 000 people are reportedly stuck.

There is a strong call for advocacy from the various parties to ensure that these people can receive humanitarian aid or that we can at least send them back to Tawila.

Many of the survivors of numerous RSF checkpoints and patrols to Tawila have reported seeing numerous sexually abused, tortured, and mass executions. Some were kidnapped by armed men and forced to pay a ransom for their pain.

In Sudan’s Northern State, many more people have been forced to relocate to the al-Dabbah refugee camp. Some have been in place for a while.

According to Hiba Morgan, a reporter for the camp, more displaced people have flooded in from El-Fasher, which has only justgotten worse.

Many people are sleeping outside in the open because they require food, clean water, medication, and shelter. As people flee the massacre by RSF fighters, thousands more could visit the camp and other nearby areas in the coming days.

As mediators, the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Egypt have all voiced their opposition to the widespread massacres and forcibly increased humanitarian aid.

In response to the massacre of the Masalit people in West Darfur’s capital, the US Department of State said in a statement on Saturday that “the RSF must stop engaging in retribution and ethnic violence.”

“External military support only prolongs the conflict, and there isn’t a workable military solution.” In a post on X, the United States urged both parties to pursue a negotiated solution to the suffering of the Sudanese people.

In response to the RSF’s takeover of el-Fasher, US lawmakers have also demanded action from Washington.