El Fasher, August 24(Darfur 24)
Local sources and eyewitnesses reported on Sunday an increase in the people fleeing El Fasher, North Darfur State, despite the lack of security on the transit routes. Meanwhile, Rapid Support Forces (RSF) abducted six women and their children from the Abu Shouk camp north of the city.
Since last week, El Fasher has witnessed clashes accompanied by heavy artillery shelling, which have killed dozens of civilians as , RSF forces have tightened their siege of army headquarters in the city.
Eyewitnesses told Darfur 24 that “the ongoing clashes in El Fasher have deepened the suffering of civilians and forced dozens of families to flee their homes, despite the growing security chaos on transit routes.”
Community leader Abdullah Mohamed Saleh told Darfur 24 that the sporadic clashes and daily artillery shelling of residential neighborhoods and markets have exacerbated the suffering of civilians, who were already suffering from a dire humanitarian situation due to the siege.
Saleh indicated that the Rapid Support Forces’ incursion into some areas of the Abu Shouk camp for internally displaced persons and the targeting of the airport area have led to an increase in internal displacement in El Fasher.
According to the Humanitarian Aid Commission in North Darfur, El Fasher currently houses more than 800,000 citizens living in what it describes as catastrophic humanitarian conditions.
Saleh stated that the Rapid Support Forces, following their incursion into Abu Shouk camp, committed violations, looting the property of displaced people and terrorizing them, before abducting six displaced women and their children. Their fate remains unknown, prompting dozens of families to flee the camp in search of safety. In turn, Ahmed Mohamed Ali, a relative of the abducted women, confirmed to Darfur 24 that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) had abducted more than six displaced women, including his sister, Jamila Ahmed Ali, and her granddaughter. They were taken to unknown locations.
In the same context, Bahaa El Din Ahmed said that the RSF had abducted his mother, wife, 40-day-old daughter, and 15-year-old son, Nader, from their home in Abu Shouk camp on Saturday morning.
The RSF has been launching continuous attacks on El Fasher since May 10, 2024, in an attempt to seize the last stronghold of the Sudanese army in Darfur.
Most food supplies have become scarce in El Fasher due to the siege imposed by the RSF since April 2024, which has recently been tightened by digging deep trenches around the city. Most of the city’s residents rely on “ambaz”—the remains of peanuts after oil extraction—as their primary source of food.