Sudan is currently experiencing a severe humanitarian emergency, centred on the city of El Fasher – the capital of North Darfur, a historic city in the west of the country and today the scene of intense fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
The ongoing conflict in Sudan has deep historical roots in the colonial division imposed by Britain and Egypt (1899–1956), which separated the Arab-Muslim North from the African, Christian, and animist South. These divisions led to two civil wars, culminating in the independence of South Sudan in 2011.
Despite independence, instability persisted, particularly in Darfur, where violence erupted in 2003, resulting in mass atrocities. Following the fall of President Omar al-Bashir in 2019, hopes for a democratic transition collapsed when renewed fighting broke out in April 2023 between the SAF and the RSF over control of the state and the integration of paramilitary forces into the national army.
This renewed conflict has intensified Sudan’s humanitarian crisis, marked by ethnic violence, urban warfare, mass displacement, and widespread food insecurity affecting millions of civilians. Twenty years after the atrocities in Darfur, El Fasher is once again witnessing large-scale human rights violations. According to Tom Fletcher, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator, “Atrocities are committed with unashamed expectation of impunity.”
The United Nations reports that more than four million people have fled to neighbouring Chad, South Sudan, and the Central African Republic, while over 40 per cent of the population is food insecure. In recent months, the RSF has dug trenches and encircled the city, preventing traders and humanitarian organisations from entering. Civilians have been forced to consume animal fodder, and Médecins Sans Frontières reported that 75 per cent of children under five, from a sample of 165 children screened in El Fasher on 18–19 October, were malnourished.
Videos posted by the RSF on social media show extrajudicial killings and other serious violations against civilians fleeing El Fasher. Thousands have continued to leave following the RSF takeover of the city on 26 October 2025. Federico Borello, interim executive director at Human Rights Watch, warned: “If the world does not act urgently, civilians will bear the full brunt of more heinous crimes”. Civilians escaping El Fasher face rape, pillaging, and killings along the way.
Human Rights Watch has concluded that the RSF committed war crimes and crimes against humanity as part of a campaign of ethnic cleansing targeting the Massalit and other non-Arab populations in El Geneina, the capital of West Darfur. Borello called on the UN Security Council and key states to act immediately, including by sanctioning the RSF leadership, and urged the European Union, the United Kingdom, and other countries to protect civilians. He also called on the United Arab Emirates to use its influence to halt attacks on civilians by the RSF.
