A massive exodus from the Sudanese city of El-Fasher is underway, with more than 62,000 people fleeing between Sunday and Wednesday after the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) seized control of the city, the last major stronghold in the Darfur region.
The fall of El-Fasher marks a pivotal and devastating new phase in the brutal two-year conflict between the RSF and the Sudanese military, plunging Africa’s third-largest country deeper into chaos and creating a severe humanitarian emergency.
The situation on the ground is dire, with only a fraction of the displaced population having reached the relative safety of the Tawila refugee camp. Those who have managed to arrive are often severely wounded and traumatized.
The Norwegian Refugee Council reported that civilians are arriving at the camp with broken limbs, untreated wounds, and injuries sustained months ago, indicating a complete collapse of medical services in the conflict zone. The council also confirmed the arrival of many children who had been separated from their parents or orphaned by the fighting.
Personal accounts from survivors paint a harrowing picture of loss and desperation. Sarah Ahmed, a Sudanese woman displaced from El-Fasher to Tawila, said a series of tragedies forced her family to flee.
“We hope they will provide blankets and winter clothes for the injured children,” Ahmed said, appealing for aid. “And I hope my son finds treatment and recovers completely.”
Another displaced individual at the camp expressed profound grief and uncertainty. “We wish the war will stop. I myself have lost my mother and three brothers. I don’t know where they are at all,” they said. “Even today when we go out, I haven’t been able to find out which way they went… I just can’t find out. My mother, my three brothers, my aunt, and my grandmother.”
The wider conflict in Sudan has already exacted a staggering human cost. United Nations figures place the death toll at over 40,000, but major aid groups have consistently warned this is a significant undercount, with the true number of fatalities believed to be many times higher.
The capture of El-Fasher by the RSF signals a major strategic shift in the war and has triggered one of the largest and most rapid displacement crises in the conflict’s history, overwhelming the limited humanitarian resources available in the region.
