El-Fasher Civilians Flee Starvation and Mass Killings, Recount Torture While Escaping RSF
Thousands arrive emaciated in Tawila as witnesses recount mass killings, rape, famine, and armed looting during Rapid Support Forces’ capture of North Darfur’s last army stronghold
Sudan, PUREWILAYAH.COM - Hundreds of skeletal survivors from Sudan’s El-Fasher have reached Tawila after the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) seized the final Sudanese Armed Forces stronghold in North Darfur.
Those who escaped described a city consumed by famine, mass killings, and systematic sexual violence following an 18-month siege that cut off food supplies and forced civilians to eat animal feed to survive.
Up to 10,000 displaced people have already crowded a Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) clinic, while another 60,000 fled toward unknown destinations and as many as 200,000 remain trapped.
A global hunger monitor confirmed famine in El-Fasher before the city fell, a humanitarian catastrophe projected to persist into January.
Women and Children Forced to Crawl, Robbed at Gunpoint
Survivors fled on foot and donkey carts, carrying wounded family members and orphaned children. Among them was Fatuma, who escaped with three orphans whose parents were killed in a drone strike while searching for food.
The youngest infant—only 40 days old—cried constantly from hunger. His sister lay wounded by shrapnel inside a makeshift shelter before the escape.
On the road, RSF fighters intercepted the group.
“They made us lay the baby on the ground and made all of us get down on the ground, and took everything we had,” Fatuma recounted tearfully after reaching the clinic.
Another 170 unaccompanied minors arrived in Tawila; every single one screened as malnourished.
MSF project coordinator Sylvain Penicaud described patients as “extremely emaciated,” with nearly 1,000 trauma cases treated from violent attacks inside the city and along escape routes.
A City Without Hospitals, A People Without Relief
El-Fasher’s final hospital endured repeated attacks before collapsing completely. Doctors ran out of antibiotics, gauze, and basic supplies, leaving fractures untreated and open wounds infected. Conditions forced families to choose between dying inside the city or risking execution on the roads.
ICC Signals War Crimes as Evidence Mounts
The International Criminal Court (ICC) said it is alarmed by documented reports of mass killings and sexual violence during the RSF assault, noting such actions may constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity under the Rome Statute.
The ICC cited its jurisdiction in Darfur via UN Security Council Resolution 1593 and referenced the recent conviction of Janjaweed commander Ali Kushayb as precedent.
Even as the RSF leadership publicly claims to prosecute violations, rights groups have already accused the force of orchestrating ethnic cleansing earlier in the conflict.
A Siege Driven by Impunity
The RSF’s starvation siege and forced displacement of civilians—coupled with armed theft, execution threats, and documented sexual violence—reveal a methodical campaign of terror, not battlefield chaos.
This is a deliberate war strategy carried out in broad daylight against a trapped civilian population, echoing the same patterns seen wherever state-aligned militias believe the world will look away.
The survivors arriving in Tawila are not merely displaced—they are witnesses to crimes the RSF is determined to erase through hunger, bullets, and fear.
Their voices break through the silence of a region scarred by impunity, and their arrival confirms what the world has refused to acknowledge loudly enough: El-Fasher was not lost in battle. It was starved, bombed, looted, and bled. (PW)