Sudan: RSF shelling kills 17 people in city of El-Fasher
Amid a catastrophic civil war in Sudan, shelling by the country’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has killed 17 people in North Darfur’s capital of El-Fasher, according to The New Arab via AFP on August 17th.
A further 25 people were injured in the assault. A medical source working at El-Fasher hospital revealed, on the condition of anonymity, that the death toll only includes those who reached the hospital. They elaborated that others were buried by their families due to the high security risk involved in traveling to a medical facility.
The RSF used heavy artillery shelling on numerous residential neighbourhoods in the city, according to the local resistance committee.
To the north of El-Fasher, the famine-stricken Abu Shouk displacement camp was also targeted. During the bombardment, several civilians – including a community leader – were killed, and at least 20 civilians were injured.
The city of El-Fasher has been under siege since May 2024 by the RSF, who have been at war with the Sudanese military since April 2023 after a power struggle turned violent. El-Fasher is the sole city in Darfur that remains under military control.
The RSF’s relentless fixation on seizing absolute control of the city, and by extension the vast region of Darfur, has been devastating for its civilian population. The group has relentlessly targeted civilians in periodic large-scale attacks on displacement camps.
On August 13th, United Nations human rights chief Volker Türk expressed outrage at a major RSF attack on El-Fasher and the adjoining Abu Shouk displacement camp. He stressed that “once again, I am raising the alarm about the serious risk of ethnically motivated persecution as the RSF tries to seize control of El Fasher and Abu Shouk camp.”
The United Nations has previously warned that the risk of genocide occurring in Sudan is “very high”, predominantly due to the RSF, who “continue to conduct ethnically motivated attacks against the Zaghawa, Masalit and Fur groups.”
UN figures state that between January and June 2025, the RSF attacked the Abu Shouk camp at least 16 times, killing at least 212 people and injuring another 111.
To compound the suffering further, malnutrition and cholera are widespread in the city. An eight-year-old girl told the World Food Programme that “in El-Fasher there was a lot of shelling and hunger. Only hunger and bombs”, according to the BBC on August 5th.
The New Arab, AFP, Maghrebi.org, OHCHR, UN News, BBC
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