As the situation in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur State, continues to be catastrophic, more details are emerging about the atrocities committed during and after the city's fall to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on October 23. Reports indicate that nearly 500 patients and their companions at the Saudi Maternity Hospital were slaughtered on Tuesday alone. Local sources report widespread killings, abductions, maiming, and sexual violence, as well as the detention and killing of aid workers.
Since the powerful paramilitary group made a major incursion into the city last week, the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) has received "horrendous accounts of summary executions, mass killings, rapes, attacks against humanitarian workers, looting, abductions, and forced displacement," said OHCHR spokesperson Seif Magango on Friday.
Mass killings, maiming, abductions, and sexual violence
Speaking to journalists in Geneva via video link from Nairobi, Magango said his office has received testimonies from people who fled El Fasher in terror and survived the threatening journey to Tawila, which is approximately 70 kilometers away - a journey that takes three to four days on foot.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimates that at least 62,000 people have been displaced from El Fasher and the surrounding areas between October 26 and 29 with ongoing insecurity along the routes continuing to restrict movements. Most of the displaced people have fled on foot to Tawila, a town west of El Fasher that is already sheltering more than 650,000 internally displaced people.
In a flash alert issued on Friday, IOM noted that the situation remains tense and highly fluid, with ongoing insecurity and ongoing population movements. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), local sources continue to describe extremely worrying incidents of displaced civilians being abducted and extorted while on the move.
Despite the cut in telecommunications and the chaotic situation on the ground, which makes it difficult to obtain direct information from inside the city, OHCHR estimates that “the death toll of civilians and those placed off the comb during the RSF’s attack on the city, as well as in the days after the takeover, could amount to hundreds”.
The RSF, a paramilitary group, has been locked in a brutal conflict with the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) since April 2023. The armed group seized control of El Fasher after forcing the Sudanese army to withdraw from its last stronghold in the western Darfur region.
Distressing reports indicate the killing of sick and wounded individuals inside the Saudi Maternity Hospital and in buildings in the Dara Jawila and Al-Matar neighborhoods that were being used as temporary medical centers.
“These extremely grave allegations raise urgent questions as to the circumstances of these killings in what should be places of safety for anyone in need of medical help,” the spokesperson said. He emphasized that an independent, transparent, and prompt investigation into the atrocities must be carried out to ensure justice.
The Human Rights Office has also received alarming reports of sexual violence from humanitarian organizations on the ground.
“At least 25 women were gang raped when RSF’s forces entered a shelter for displaced people near El Fasher University. Witnesses confirm RSF’s personnel selected women and girls and raped them at gunpoint,” Magango said.
Aid workers and health facilities are being targeted
The pattern of violence has also extended to humanitarian workers and local volunteers who support vulnerable communities in El Fasher. At least two local humanitarian responders were killed in the paramilitary-controlled city on October 27 and 29. OHCHR has recorded at least four incidents in which humanitarian personnel and local volunteers were assaulted and has confirmed that three doctors are being held by the RSF.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has corroborated reports of attacks on health facilities and personnel and has condemned the abduction of six health workers — four doctors, a nurse, and a pharmacist. In October alone, the Saudi Maternity Hospital has been attacked five times.
Following the capture of El Fasher, there is no longer a humanitarian health presence in the city, and access remains blocked. The UN agency is "unable to assist those impacted by the injuries resulting from the multiple attacks against civilians," explained Teresa Zakaria, head of the WHO's Humanitarian Operations Unit, speaking in Geneva on Friday.
WHO has confirmed that 189 attacks have been verified in Sudan this year, resulting in 1,670 deaths and 419 injuries.
"Eighty-six percent of all these attack-related deaths have occurred this year alone, indicating that attacks are becoming deadlier," said Zakaria.
According to WHO, fewer than half of health facilities across Sudan are providing their full range of services. Twelve percent are only partially functional, and 40 percent are completely nonfunctional. The situation is significantly worse in the states of the Kordofan and Darfur regions.
Meanwhile, fierce fighting in North Kordofan State is causing new waves of displacement and endangering the humanitarian response, including in the surrounding area of the state capital, El Obeid. The IOM estimates that nearly 36,000 people have been displaced from Bara, a town north of El Obeid, this week following mass atrocities.
On Tuesday, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) reported that five Sudanese Red Crescent volunteers were killed the previous day while assisting with food distributions in Bara, and that three remain missing.
In South Kordofan State, Kadugli and Dilling have remained largely cut off from support despite repeated assurances given to the UN regarding humanitarian flights and hubs.
Funding shortfalls deepen humanitarian emergency
At a time when humanitarian needs are at their highest, the funding gap to meet Sudan's massive humanitarian needs is particularly worrisome.
“The Sudan Humanitarian Response Plan to date is only 27.4 per cent funded - a very, very big gap,” Zakaria added.
“For the health sector itself, funding stands at 37 per cent, so, we are struggling very much with resources. That’s why we are calling on the international community not to abandon the people of Sudan, because the main actors are our Sudanese organizations, who continue to be present and deliver assistance”.
Seif Magango echoed that call, reiterating UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk’s appeal for "states with influence over the parties in the conflict to act urgently to end the violence, halt the flow of arms fueling violations, and ensure meaningful protection of civilians."
Sudan, a gold- and oil-rich nation, has become the site of the world's largest humanitarian, hunger, and displacement crisis, with approximately 15 million people displaced out of a population of 51 million. Famine is widespread, and outbreaks of cholera and other deadly diseases are on the rise. More than 24 million people — over 40 percent — lack sufficient food.
With the capture of El Fasher, the RSF now controls much of Darfur and parts of southern Sudan, while the Sudanese Armed Forces control the capital, Khartoum, and much of northern and central Sudan.
Situation in North Darfur State remains catastrophic
On Friday, OCHA emphasized that the situation in North Darfur State continues to be catastrophic, with ongoing attacks against civilians and limited humanitarian access to El Fasher resulting in people fleeing to Tawila and other areas.
Tens of thousands of civilians — an estimated 200,000 — remain trapped in El Fasher, facing life-threatening shortages of food, water, and medical care. Many others are stranded in Garni, about 20 kilometers away, unable to flee due to insecurity and a lack of transportation.
Those who have escaped are sheltering outdoors in Kebkabiya, Melit, and Tawila, where families lack basic supplies.
Conditions in Tawila are especially dire. Safe drinking water accounts for less than half of the daily need, markets have collapsed, and supplies of food, fuel, and medicine are nearly exhausted, with diseases spreading. A recent assessment screened 715 children and found nearly 60 percent of them to be acutely malnourished.
In Tawila, the UN is working with local aid groups to register new arrivals and provide emergency support. However, huge gaps persist in the provision of shelter materials, medicines, trauma care supplies, food assistance, and psychosocial support.
UN relief chief speaks out against “crisis of apathy”
On Thursday, Tom Fletcher, the UN relief chief and head of OCHA, told the Security Council that the situation in El Fasher has "descended into an even darker hell," citing credible reports of widespread executions by RSF fighters who entered the city.
Fletcher urged the Security Council to take immediate, concerted action to stop the atrocities, ensure safe passage for those trying to flee, protect those remaining in El Fasher, and guarantee full and unimpeded humanitarian access across Darfur and all other areas in need in Sudan.
He began by expressing his disappointment and frustration that the international community, including the Security Council, had not prevented the horrific events unfolding in El Fasher.
"Can anyone here say that we did not know this was coming?" he asked the Security Council members.
“We cannot hear the screams, but, as we sit here today the horror is continuing. Women and girls are being raped, people mutilated and killed – with utter impunity,” he said.
“And let us be clear: a full 16 months after the adoption of Resolution 2736, the victims will not know of the noble commitments on that page, nor hear our statements today about how much we care.”
Fletcher stressed that the crisis in Sudan is, at its core, a failure to protect and a failure of “our responsibility to uphold international law”.
“Sexual violence against women and girls is systematic. Deadly attacks against humanitarian workers are normalized. Atrocities are committed with unashamed expectation of impunity, driven by complete disregard of the most fundamental obligations of international humanitarian law,” he added.
The UN humanitarian chief pointed out that what was unfolding in El Fasher recalled the horrors that Darfur was subjected to twenty years ago.
“But somehow today we are seeing a very different global reaction – one of resignation. So, this is also a crisis of apathy,” Fletcher added.
He questioned whether previous generations of leaders and diplomats would have been as "impotent" in the face of such atrocities.