The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned on Monday of a sharp deterioration in the situation in El Fasher, the capital of Sudan’s North Darfur State. This warning comes amid reports that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) captured the Sudanese army headquarters in the city on Sunday. In light of the situation, UN relief chief Tom Fletcher has called for an immediate ceasefire in El Fasher, across Darfur, and throughout Sudan.
According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), more than 26,000 people fled El Fasher to the nearby localities of Melit and Tawila between Sunday and Monday. Reports indicate that fighting in the town has escalated further, with intense shelling and ground assaults engulfing the city.
Horrendous situation in El Fasher
On Sunday, international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working in Sudan sounded the alarm over the severe escalation of violence in El Fasher. They highlighted that civilians, local responders, and aid workers face grave risks amid intensifying fighting and siege conditions that severely restrict access to lifesaving assistance.
“The lives and dignity of hundreds of thousands of Sudanese civilians, and the safety of local humanitarian responders who remain on the front-line of this crisis, are at immediate risk. The escalation of violence in El Fasher is no longer a question of future danger but of imminent catastrophe,” the NGOs said.
“We urge no further delay in action to protect civilians, support responders and enable the delivery of life-saving relief.”
Prior to the most recent displacement, approximately 260,000 civilians, including 130,000 children, were trapped in a town under siege for over 18 months — cut off from food, water, and healthcare. The collapse of health facilities has left thousands of severely malnourished children without treatment and facing imminent death.
The population of El Fasher is enduring an unbearable deterioration in living conditions and unprecedented humanitarian suffering. Homes, markets, and hospitals have been damaged or destroyed, while aid and commercial routes remain completely blocked.
During a press conference in Kuala Lumpur on Monday, UN Secretary-General António Guterres responded to a journalist's question about reports indicating that the RSF had taken control of the SAF headquarters in the city.
Guterres said this marked a “terrible escalation” in the conflict. He stressed that the time has come for the international community to clearly tell all countries interfering in the war and providing weapons to the warring parties, urging them to stop.
“Because the level of suffering that we are witnessing in Sudan is unbearable,” he said.
“And it is clear that we have not only a Sudanese problem with the army and the rapid support forces fighting each other, we have more and more an external interference that undermines the possibility to a ceasefire and to a political solution to the problem.”
On Sunday, UN relief chief Tom Fletcher called for an immediate ceasefire in El Fasher, across the Darfur region, and throughout Sudan.
"With fighters pushing further into the city and escape routes cut off, hundreds of thousands of civilians are trapped and terrified – shelled, starving, and without access to food, healthcare, or safety," he said.
"Safe, rapid, and unimpeded humanitarian access must be allowed to reach all civilians in need. We have lifesaving supplies ready, but intensified attacks have made it impossible for us to get aid in. Local humanitarian workers continue to save lives under fire."
Fletcher emphasized the urgent need to protect civilians in El Fasher.
“Civilians must be allowed safe passage and be able to access aid. Those fleeing to safer areas must be allowed to do so safely and in dignity. Those who stay – including local responders – must be protected,” he said.
"Attacks on civilians, hospitals and humanitarian operations must stop immediately."
Dire situation in Tawila
Meanwhile, OCHA teams are on the ground in Melit and Tawila, monitoring the situation and coordinating the response to the needs of the affected population.
On Monday, the NGO International Rescue Committee (IRC) said it is deeply alarmed by the worsening humanitarian situation, as thousands continue to flee El Fasher toward Tawila in search of safety.
In recent weeks, thousands of newly displaced people have arrived in Tawila, joining the approximately 400,000 people who are already displaced and living there. This has put immense strain on limited resources and services.
According to the IRC, despite ongoing efforts by humanitarian organizations, basic needs in Tawila are only being met at about 50 percent, as families are living in overcrowded, makeshift shelters with limited access to clean water, food, and healthcare.
The IRC warns that the mass arrival of displaced people is overwhelming existing systems, leaving thousands without even the most essential support.
“People arriving from El Fasher are coming from what can only be described as a hellscape, a city torn apart by conflict, destruction, and despair. They come with nothing but the clothes on their backs, severely traumatized, looking for safety and support,” said Arjan Hehenkamp, the IRC's Darfur crisis lead.
“But Tawila itself is at breaking point. Without a significant scale-up in humanitarian assistance, the suffering here will deepen further.”
Shocking levels of violence in North Kordofan
Fighting has also intensified in North Kordofan State, where reports indicate that several civilians were killed and infrastructure was looted over the weekend.
Today, the Sudan Doctors Network, a medical association, reported that 47 civilians were killed in the city of Bara. According to the Network, the Rapid Support Forces executed the unarmed civilians, including 9 women, in their homes in Bara.
The medical association called upon the United Nations, the African Union, and human rights organizations to protect unarmed civilians in Bara and across Sudan and to launch an urgent international investigation to hold RSF leaders accountable.
The conflict in Sudan has been marked by shocking levels of violence and brutality against civilians, especially in the Darfur and Kordofan regions. The RSF, in particular, has been accused of mass killings and rape as a means of warfare. However, both warring parties have been implicated in serious war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Tens of thousands have been targeted based on their ethnicity, resulting in death, injury, abuse, exploitation, and forcing more and more people to flee the violence. Human rights investigators have found disturbing evidence indicating that civilians have been deliberately targeted, displaced, and starved.
Sudan — the world's largest humanitarian crisis
Sudan is currently experiencing the world's largest humanitarian crisis. Over 30 million people, including nearly 15 million children, are in urgent need of assistance. The brutal conflict that began in April 2023 has destroyed essential services such as healthcare and education.
Last year, famine was confirmed in several parts of Sudan, and the hunger situation remains catastrophic, particularly for children. Malnutrition rates have soared, and thousands are at imminent risk of death without immediate food and nutrition assistance.
Due to the war, Sudan is facing the world's largest hunger crisis. Across the country, approximately 25 million people are experiencing acute hunger. Of those, at least 638,000 are facing catastrophic levels of food insecurity (IPC Phase 5), and 8.1 million are experiencing emergency levels (IPC Phase 4).
As of October, over 9.6 million women, men, and children remain internally displaced, including 2.4 million forced from their homes before April 2023. This makes Sudan the country with the largest internal displacement crisis in the world.
An additional 4.5 million people have crossed borders into other countries, joining at least 500,000 Sudanese who had already fled before the war escalated. The total number of Sudanese refugees is now estimated at over 5 million.
Overall, around 15 million people have been displaced by conflict in Sudan, making this the largest displacement crisis in the world by far.