The cruelty of the last massacre of the civil war in Sudan It can be seen even from the air. After the takeover of El-Fasher, a city of about 250,000 inhabitants, by the paramilitary group of the Rapid Support Forces (FAR), satellite images show lifeless bodies and absence of movement that “could indicate that There are few civilians left alive and able to escape”, according to analysis by the Humanitarian Research Laboratory (HRL) at Yale University
The fall of the last stronghold of the Sudanese Army in the largest city in the region has triggered a mass escape which the United Nations estimates more than 62,000 people in just four days. However, humanitarian organizations warn that many fewer people than expected have managed to leave the besieged city of Darfur.
The Sudan Doctors Network, a medical network operating on the ground, estimates at least 1,500 deadincluding 460 in an attack on a maternity hospital, and tens of thousands missingamid summary executions, sexual violence, kidnappings and looting perpetrated during the offensive.
Extreme violence
Images of executions of civilians trying to flee the FAR offensive have begun to circulate on social networks, published by the rebel group’s own fighters. Soldiers are seen in the videos holding and killing unarmed peopleas well as traveling the streets on camelbacks, rifle in hand, finishing off the wounded that lie on the ground. The leadership of the FAR has attributed these episodes to isolated actions.
However, from the neighbor Tawilawhere the majority of displaced people seek refuge, survivors describe a panorama of horror and devastation. “The situation in El-Fasher is terrible: there are bodies in the streets and no one to bury them,” he said. Husseina survivor injured by the bombings, to AFP.
“The number of people who arrived in Tawila is very low (…) Where are those missing people, who have survived months of hunger and violence in El Fasher?” he warned. Michel Olivier Lacharitéhead of emergencies for Doctors Without Borders. “From what patients tell us,” he added, “the most likely and terrifying answer is that those people died or were persecuted when they were trying to flee.”
A conflict of interest
The civil war that pits the FAR rebels against the regular Sudanese Army, both accused of committing war crimesis on its way to its third year and has caused one of the largest refugee crises in the world, with four million refugees outside the country and more than eight million internally displaced. In addition to the armed conflict, hunger and climate change aggravate the situation of the Sudanese population in a forgotten conflict.
Despite its limited presence on the international agenda, the Sudanese civil war is far from being an isolated conflict of international interests. The strategic region of Darfur It has a key location, at the confluence of the borders with Chad, Libya and South Sudanand with abundant gold reservesone of the main sources of wealth in the country. Beyond ideological and ethnic disputes, control of the deposits has been one of the drivers of the conflict, according to a 2024 report by the Italian Institute for International Policy Studies (ISPI).
War not only divides the territory and the populationbut also to the international community. According to iAccording to UN reports, FAR paramilitaries have received support from United Arab Emiratessomething Abu Dhabi denies. For its part, the Sudanese Army has had the backing from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Türkiye.
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