Over 1,000 civilians flee Sudan’s El-Fasher amid escalating violence

By Adel Abdelrheem and Mohammad Sio

KHARTOUM, Sudan/ISTANBUL (AA) – A total of 1,117 new internally displaced people (IDPs) have arrived in Tawila in North Darfur state after fleeing the city of El-Fasher due to intensified violence and deteriorating security conditions, a Sudanese civil society organization said Monday.

Fighting raged on between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on Sunday in El-Fasher, which serves as the humanitarian operations center for the five Darfur states.

The Displaced Persons Coordination, a local NGO, said in a statement that 1,117 individuals from 360 families arrived in Tawila on Sunday after fleeing El-Fasher.

This brought the total number of displaced families reaching Tawila between Oct. 18 and 27 to 831 families of 3,038 people, according to the same statement.

The displaced families “are living in dire humanitarian conditions and lack even the most basic necessities for survival,” Adam Regal, spokesperson for the General Coordination for Refugees and Displaced Persons, a local NGO, told Anadolu.

“These families urgently need life-saving services, including water, healthcare, nutrition, food, shelter, protection, education, and psychosocial support,” Regal said, urging the UN and humanitarian agencies to intervene immediately.

Last Thursday, four UN agencies – the International Organization for Migration, UNICEF, the World Food Program (WFP), and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) – said that 260,000 civilians are trapped in El-Fasher, including 130,000 children suffering from acute food shortages and lack of healthcare services.

El-Fasher has witnessed fierce fighting for weeks between the army and the RSF, following a multi-front assault by the paramilitary group, which has surrounded the city from five directions in an attempt to seize control of it due to its strategic importance.

The RSF has been besieging El-Fasher since May 10, 2024.

The army and the RSF have been fighting since April 2023, which has killed thousands of people and displaced millions of others.