Politics UN on fighting around El Fascher in Sudan: Hundreds of thousands trapped
According to the UN, hundreds of thousands of civilians are trapped in the large city of El Fascher in south-western Sudan due to fierce fighting.
27.10.2025, 03:07
SDA
They are unable to flee, are living in fear and have no access to food or health care, as Tom Fletcher, head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha), explained. The reports of massive shelling of the city and fighting on the ground are very alarming.
Fletcher called for an immediate ceasefire in El Fascher, free passage for fleeing civilians and fast and unhindered access for humanitarian aid. "We are standing by with essential supplies, but the fiercer fighting has made it impossible for us to get aid (into the city)," explained Fletcher. According to the UN, up to 300,000 people are still living in catastrophic conditions in El Fascher.
The paramilitary group RSF claims to have captured El Fascher, the last major city in the Darfur region controlled by the government and under siege for a year and a half. The military did not comment on this at first. According to media reports, fighting is continuing in the capital of the state of North Darfur. The information could not initially be independently confirmed.
Torture, rape and killings feared
In the event that the RSF militia is able to take complete control of the city, serious acts of violence, torture, rape, killings and ethnically motivated expulsions are feared. Such crimes have been reported from parts of Darfur previously taken by the RSF.
A bloody power struggle has been raging in Sudan since April 2023 between de facto ruler Abdel-Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the RSF. While the army has since been able to recapture the capital Khartoum, the RSF have consolidated their control over Darfur on the border with Chad. The country is threatened with permanent division.
The UN considers the situation in Sudan to be the largest humanitarian crisis in the world at present. More than twelve million people are on the run. More than 26 million people, around half the population, are suffering from hunger.
