As El Fasher Falls in Sudan Civil War, Stories of War Crimes Escalate
“The situation is very bad” – UN Head of Humanitarian Operations in Sudan
As the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have surrounded and claimed El Fasher, the capital city of Sudan’s North Darfur state, reports of atrocities against civilians are emerging from those who’ve escaped.
Read the Full Story: Vatican News
The Darfur region has been a stronghold throughout the conflict for the RSF, who launched an attack in April of 2023 on Sudan’s capital city of Khartoum. The city was recovered in March by the government’s Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), but fighting continues to devastate the country, raging past the two and a half year mark.
The forced displacement of 12 million people has led to more than a million internal refugees fleeing to areas like the Nuba Mountains for refuge, where aid efforts by Sudan Relief Fund are ongoing.
Civilians of Darfur have been suspected of suffering war crimes at the hands of the RSF since the conflict began, in one of the areas worst afflicted by famine and starvation, with reports of the RSF withholding food from civilians as a weapon against the government.
Since the RSF controls the area and has blocked communications, civilians trapped inside El Fasher and other parts of Darfur have struggled to reach the outside world, deepening the challenge of obtaining information or providing humanitarian aid to that region.
While the RSF is allegedly refusing to let anyone leave the area, civilians who’ve made it out are bringing reports that paint a brutal picture of life behind enemy lines. Stories by survivors include mass executions of men, random killings of elderly people, women and girls being raped at gunpoint, and shootings of the sick or injured who were being treated in temporary medical shelters.
Sudan Relief Fund continues to support food and medical relief efforts in the Nuba Mountains to aid massive numbers of displaced families, many who’ve endured extensive trauma. Mother of Mercy remains one of the few hospitals still operating in the region, serving victims of famine, a cholera outbreak, and civilians injured in harrowing escapes from war zones. If you would like to join this effort to help send emergency food and medicine to families in what’s being recognized as the world’s worst humanitarian catastrophe today, please go here to make a difference.
