As world leaders prepare to gather in New York for the UN General Assembly, Secretary-General António Guterres once again called on the international community to intervene in the rapidly deteriorating situation in Sudan.
In particular, he warned of the growing threats faced by civilians in the city of Al Fasher, capital of North Darfur, which has become the latest epicentre of Sudan’s civil war. For more than 500 days, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the paramilitary group that since April 2023 has been fighting against the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), have maintained a siege around the city, launching repeated assaults on civilians and critical infrastructure, including schools, hospitals and displacement centers. The city remains the last stronghold of Sudan’s armed forces in the Darfur region, with over 300,000 civilians trapped by the siege.
The violence escalated drastically on 19 September, when a drone strike targeting a mosque during morning prayers killed at least 70 people and injured dozens. The attack, attributed to the RSF, although the group did not take responsibility, marked one of the deadliest single incidents since the beginning of the war. Witnesses described bodies lying in the rubble while medical workers struggled to assist the wounded.
The UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan, Denise Brown, harshly condemned the strike as a blatant violation of international humanitarian law. She stressed that religious sites and worshippers are protected under international norms, calling for an investigation on the incident to hold the perpetrators accountable.
The mosque strike is one of the latest acts of violence. Several reports confirmed that the RSF has recently intensified its campaign against the displacement camp of Abu Shouk, close to the city of Al Fasher, where tens of thousands of people are sheltered. Satellite imagery analysed by Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL) proved that RSF units in the area currently control most of the camp. They also showed the group seizing the headquarters of the Joint Forces, a coalition of armed groups allied with the Sudanese army. The complex, housed in a former UN compound, represented a key defensive line, and its occupation now puts the nearby airport and the army’s division headquarters within the RSF firing range.
The UN also warned of the increasing ethnicisation of the conflict, expressing concern over the risk of mass atrocities against civilians if the RSF troops were to enter the city. Officials from the United Nations and humanitarian organisations alike have documented systematic RSF campaigns against non-Arab communities, reporting on the group’s plans to “clean Al Fasher” of its non-Arab population.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres has repeatedly called for an immediate cessation of hostilities, safe passage for civilians wishing to leave, and safe humanitarian access. He has also called for coordinated international action in support of the people of Sudan as negotiations mediated by the United States, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates have so far failed to reach a ceasefire.
To read more, please visit:
- https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/09/1165903
- https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/statement/2025-09-20/statement-attributable-the-spokesperson-for-the-secretary-general-sudan?_gl=1*1pba01s*_ga*ODE0MDk4OTM0LjE3NTg0NDgxMDg.*_ga_TK9BQL5X7Z*czE3NTg0NDgxMDgkbzEkZzAkdDE3NTg0NDgxMDgkajYwJGwwJGgw*_ga _S5EKZKSB78*czE3NTg0NDgxMDgkbzEkZzEkdDE3NTg0NDgxMjUkajQzJGwwJGgw
- https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/9/19/civilians-on-the-front-line-in-sudans-forgotten-war-un-warns
- https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp8wzzjze8xo
