The United Nations has sounded the alarm over intensifying violence in El-Fasher, Sudan’s besieged city, where at least 91 civilians were killed in a series of Rapid Support Forces (RSF) attacks between September 19 and 29, 2025.
According to UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk, the city’s Daraja Oula neighborhood has been repeatedly targeted with artillery shelling, drone strikes, and ground incursions, raising fears of “large-scale, ethnically-driven attacks and atrocities.”
Mounting Civilian Casualties
On Wednesday, September 29, an RSF missile strike killed 16 people, including three women, and injured 21 more, among them five children, the Sudan Doctors Network confirmed. This followed earlier attacks that killed 15 people at a market and 70 worshippers at a mosque.
Local resistance committees described the RSF’s targeting of residential neighborhoods as a “massacre.”
A City Under Siege
El-Fasher, the military’s last stronghold in Darfur, has been under siege for months, worsening an already dire humanitarian crisis. Aid workers say residents face extreme shortages of food, clean water, and medicine. A limited airdrop by the Sudanese army on Monday marked the first aid delivery since fighting escalated in April.
Journalists trapped inside the city face particularly brutal risks. A Committee to Protect Journalists report detailed harassment, arrests, and sexual violence against media workers. Fighters reportedly use informants to identify journalists, leading to targeted attacks, including beatings and gang rapes.
Broader Conflict and Humanitarian Toll
The war between the RSF and the Sudanese military, which erupted in 2023, has killed at least 40,000 people and displaced 12 million, according to the World Health Organization. More than 24 million Sudanese now face acute food insecurity, the World Food Program warns.
Regional and International Response
Egypt signaled support for efforts to end the siege after talks between Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty and his Sudanese counterpart Mohi el-Din Salem, though details remain unclear. Meanwhile, the Sudanese army claimed to have inflicted heavy losses on RSF fighters and alleged the presence of foreign mercenaries from Colombia and Ukraine operating drone systems.
Outlook
The spiraling violence in El-Fasher underscores the urgent need for international intervention to protect civilians. With the city on the brink of collapse and reports of atrocities mounting, the conflict in Sudan’s Darfur region risks sliding into a deeper humanitarian catastrophe.
