El Fasher , August 25(Darfur 24)
Survivors abducted by the Rapid Support Forces( RSF) revealed on Monday that the number of abductees from the Abu Shouk camp north of El Fasher, North Darfur, has risen to more than 50, mostly women and children.
Local reports earlier this week indicated that the RSF abducted women and their children during their incursion into some areas of the Abu Shouk camp for internally displaced persons.
Three survivors told Darfur 24 that “there is a house in the Riyadh neighborhood, northeast of El Fasher, where more than 50 abductees from Abu Shouk camp, the majority of whom were women and children, were being held.”
A survivor stated that RSF personnel released her and three others after they were abducted from Abu Shouk camp on Saturday. They were taken to an unknown location after their faces were masked.
She explained that she was released after complaining about leaving her son, who had been injured by artillery shelling, behind while he was receiving treatment in a hospital.
The survivor indicated that the Rapid Support Forces had used a house in the Riyadh neighborhood, northeast of El Fasher, as a center for gathering the abductees, under the pretext of trying to rescue them from the grip of the army and the joint force of the armed movements.
She explained that the Rapid Support Forces pledged to transport the abductees to safe areas under their control in North Darfur.
Another survivor stated that she was released after being abducted with two of her children last Friday, after telling them that she was returning to bring her daughter her.
She added, “The number of abductees in that house exceeded 50, most of them women, children, and some elderly people.”
In this context, another survivor said that the Rapid Support Forces released him this morning after his health deteriorated, indicating that some of the abductees suffered from chronic diseases.
He explained that RSF pledged to evacuate the abductees to safe areas to receive healthcare, warning that the conditions of these patients would deteriorate if they were not released or evacuated to other safe areas.
For the past week, El Fasher has witnessed military battles accompanied by heavy artillery shelling, which have killed dozens of civilians. Meanwhile, the Rapid Support Forces have tightened their siege of the city’s army headquarters.
Most food supplies have become scarce in El Fasher as a result of the siege imposed by 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 their oil has been extracted—as a source of food.