Omdurman, Oct 29, (dpa/GNA) – The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has taken control of the last major city in Sudan’s western Darfur region, that was held by the Sudanese army.
The army said on Monday that it has withdrawn from El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state, which is home to around 300,000 civilians.
The RSF had announced on Sunday that it had first seized the army’s main post and then the entire city.
The army said it had pushed back two major assaults on Saturday morning, saying that many militia fighters were killed and wounded in the clashes. None of these claims could be independently verified.
El Fasher was the final government stronghold in the Darfur region, much of which has fallen under RSF control, during the conflict that has raged for more than two and a half years.
According to UN estimates, up to 300,000 people remain in the city under what aid groups have characterized as catastrophic humanitarian conditions.
Observers have expressed concerns that remaining civilians could face serious violence at the hands of the RSF, including killings, torture, rape and ethnically motivated displacement, as seen in other parts of Darfur previously seized by the paramilitary.
Sudan has been gripped by a brutal power struggle since April 2023, between de facto ruler Abdel-Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the RSF.
Both sides have been accused of serious human rights violations. Observers fear the conflict could lead to the country’s permanent division.
The UN considers the situation to be the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, with more than 12 million people displaced and more than 26 million – about half the country’s population – suffering from acute hunger.
UN Secretary General António Guterres, has urged immediate talks to end the fighting after the RSF captured El Fasher.
Guterres urged both the Sudanese Armed Forces and the RSF to contact his envoy for Sudan, Ramtane Lamamra, without delay and “take swift, tangible steps toward a negotiated settlement,” his spokesman, Stéphane Dujarric, said in a statement.
The UN chief was “gravely concerned” by the recent escalation of fighting and condemned reported violations of international humanitarian law. Dujarric added that Guterres was “deeply alarmed” by the continued flow of weapons and fighters into Sudan, which he said was worsening an already desperate situation.
Dujarric said humanitarian aid must be allowed to reach civilians quickly and without obstruction. El Fasher and the surrounding areas have been “an epicentre of suffering” for more than 18 months, with hunger, disease and violence claiming lives daily, he said.
Meanwhile, the German government called for an immediate end to the violence in Sudan.
“We are appalled by the reports coming out of El Fasher, Sudan,” the Foreign Office said late Monday in a statement on X.
RSF fighters had pushed deep into the city, and were “killing civilians indiscriminately,” the statement said. “This must stop immediately.”
“The RSF leadership committed publicly to protect civilians. They will be held accountable,” the Foreign Office said.
GNA