600,000 people displaced from Sudanese city of El-Fasher
At least 600,000 people, half of whom are children, have been displaced from El-Fasher, which is under siege by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, according to Middle East Monitor via Anadolu on August 27th.
The United Nations children’s agency UNICEF revealed the figure, stating that El-Fasher, which is the capital city of the strategically important state of North Darfur, has become the epicentre of child suffering in Sudan.
Famine-stricken El-Fasher and the surrounding displacement camps have been the target of recurring and extremely violent attacks by the RSF as part of a campaign to flush out the last remaining stronghold of the Sudanese military in the Darfur region, who still control the city.
The RSF and the Sudanese military have been locked in a civil war that has devastated the country since April 2023, after a power struggle turned violent.
In a statement, UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell warned that “we are witnessing a devastating tragedy – children in El-Fasher are starving while UNICEF’s lifesaving nutrition services are being blocked.”
The siege, which was imposed by the RSF in April 2024, has starved the city of humanitarian resources by severing vital supply lines. This blockade has forced health facilities and mobile nutrition teams to suspend their operations as stocks rapidly deplete.
Around 6,000 children living with Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) are currently untreated. According to UNICEF, over 10,000 children in El-Fasher have been treated for SAM since January 2025. However, services have come to a halt due to supply shortages caused by the siege.
Humanitarian staff face the risk of being targeted by combatants during medical operations. Over 120 aid workers have been killed in Sudan since the conflict started, making it one of the deadliest war zones for humanitarians.
Violence is also frequently directed towards civilians, especially in North Darfur’s capital. Since the beginning of the siege, “more than 1,100 grave violations have been verified in El Fasher alone, including the killing and maiming of over 1,000 children”, according to the United Nations on August 27th.
Middle East Monitor via Anadolu, Maghrebi.org, United Nations
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