Under Siege: More Than 260,000 Civilians in El Fasher Trapped Between Starvation, Bombs, and Sexual Violence
In El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, a humanitarian catastrophe is unfolding with chilling clarity. According to recent reports from UNICEF, UN Women, the World Food Programme (WFP), and other verified sources, at least 260,000 civilians remain besieged in the city—cut off from essential humanitarian access for well over a year. These trapped populations, including approximately 130,000 children, now face an impossible trade-off: stay and suffer relentless bombardment and starvation, or flee and risk rape, summary execution, or worse.
Here is the most recent information, drawn from verified sources, painting a full picture of what civilians in El Fasher are contending with:
✅ Humanitarian Blockade and Collapse of Basic Services
Since April 2024, supplies of food, medicine, and other essentials into El Fasher have been systematically blocked by the paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Markets have collapsed. Prices for staples like sorghum and wheat have surged by as much as 460% compared to other parts of Sudan.
Health facilities are in ruins or non-operational. Nutrition programs have halted; thousands of children suffering from Severe Acute Malnutrition are not receiving treatment.
⚠️ Starvation, Famine, and Extreme Suffering
Children bear the brunt. Over 1,100 “grave violations” involving children have been verified in Al Fasher since the siege began—these include killing, maiming, rape, abduction and forced recruitment.
An estimated 6,000 children with severe acute malnutrition are currently without treatment.
Many families are being forced to subsist on animal feed, leaves, and food waste. Basic meals are rare; some families survive on just one meal per day.
💥 Bombing, Shelling, and Danger to All Who Try to Leave
The RSF have repeatedly shelled residential areas, displacement camps on the outskirts (notably Abu Shouk, Zamzam), and other civilian infrastructure. Shelling has killed dozens, injured many more.
Escape attempts are extremely dangerous. Young men trying to flee face targeted killings, abductions, or summary execution by RSF fighters. Families are often forced to leave behind teens and adult males to attempt escape, or to remain hidden within the besieged city.
🌍 Gender-Based Violence, Violence Against Women & Girls
UN Women reports that women and girls in El Fasher are exposed to rape, gang rape, forced sexual violence and other gender-based abuses as part of the siege. Many risks emerge both within the city and during perilous attempts to flee.
Pregnant women and mothers are denied basic health services, and childbirth is extraordinarily risky without access to functioning clinics or skilled medical staff.
📈 Scale of Displacement and Mortality
More than 600,000 people have now been displaced from El Fasher and surrounding displacement camps.
The UN has counted at least 57 civilians killed in a single recent large‐scale attack on El Fasher (including the Abu Shouk displacement camp).
Between August 11-20, 2025, at least 89 more civilians, including some summarily executed, died in RSF attacks in and around El Fasher and Abu Shouk camp. Ethnic targeting has been documented.
🔍 Legal, Moral, and Strategic Implications
Many of the actions being reported—denial of aid, imposing siege, intentional targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure, sexual violence, summary executions—fall under international humanitarian law as serious violations. Some may amount to war crimes or crimes against humanity.
Humanitarian organizations warn that without an immediate, sustained opening of supply routes and safe passage for those fleeing, more lives will be lost. The consequences will be irreversible, especially among children.
What Must Happen Next
1. Immediate ceasefire / pause in hostilities to allow humanitarian deliveries and rescues.
2. Safe corridors for civilians to leave, especially women, children, and medically vulnerable.
3. Full, unfettered access for humanitarian organisations, including for nutrition, water, sanitation, and medical care.
4. Accountability: investigation of alleged war-crimes, summary executions, sexual violence, and use of starvation as a method of warfare.
5. Global engagement: more pressure from states, the UN Security Council, and international NGOs to ensure protection for civilians.
Every day the siege continues, the calculus for civilians is horror. They weigh the certainty of death in place against the risk of death on the road—but no matter what they choose, the outcome is often tragedy. Silence is complicity; raising the alarm may yet help mobilize the aid and diplomatic action that should have come long ago.
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