El Fasher, North Darfur, Sudan — October 30, 2025 | Dalena Reporters
The fall of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, into the hands of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has triggered one of the darkest chapters yet in the crisis sweeping Sudan. Accounts from survivors, satellite imagery and hospital‐based evidence all point to mass killings, targeted violence and an unfolding humanitarian catastrophe.
The RSF, successors of the notorious Janjaweed militias which were responsible for earlier genocide in Darfur, seized the city after an extended siege. Reports from the ground detail harrowing scenes: roads littered with corpses, fighters on camels and motorbikes sweeping through neighbourhoods, women and children driven to flee or face violence. Survivor Hayat Yaqoub Hussein recounts the ordeal: “The road out of El Fasher was lined with corpses. If you stopped, they whipped you.”
One of the most shocking dimensions is the reported massacre inside the Saudi Maternity Hospital, where medical staff, patients and visitors were reportedly executed. The WHO estimates roughly 460 people were killed. Satellite analysis by Airbus likewise reveals mass graves and the scale of violence.
Humanitarian agencies warn that over 14 million Sudanese are now displaced, with thousands still trapped in El Fasher under siege conditions—starving, exposed, and at grave risk. The United Nations calls the Darfur situation “the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
The RSF’s capture of El Fasher effectively splits Sudan: the national army retains Khartoum and much of the east, while Darfur falls under the RSF’s sway. While RSF leader General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (commonly known as Hemedti) has offered to investigate abuses, rights groups say accountability is unlikely without external pressure.
The implications are profound: Africa’s long‐standing attempt to draw a line under Darfur’s legacy of atrocity now faces resurgence of large-scale violence. The international community must confront not only the humanitarian risk but the spectre of renewed genocide. As one displaced parent said: “We were alive, but wounded — we couldn’t help them.”