Politics

From siege to slaughter: the fall of el-Fasher

After over 500 days of a crippling blockade, the city finally fell to the RSF, cementing their control of the giant Darfur state in western Sudan and giving them full access to key supply routes

A displaced woman rests in Tawila, in the country's war-torn western Darfur region, on 28 October 2025, after fleeing el-Fasher following the city’s fall to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
AFP
A displaced woman rests in Tawila, in the country's war-torn western Darfur region, on 28 October 2025, after fleeing el-Fasher following the city’s fall to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

From siege to slaughter: the fall of el-Fasher

Amgad Fareid Eltayeb
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The fall of the Sudanese city of el-Fasher to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on 26 October was a strategic turning point in the country’s brutal civil war that has been raging since April 2023, carrying devastating consequences.

Since the outbreak of war between the Sudanese government and the RSF, el-Fasher—the capital of North Darfur—has been a primary RSF target. It was fully encircled in May 2024 and has been under siege ever since, its people slowly starving, with the government’s aerial and ground supplies choked off.

For 500 days, the Sudanese army, local tribal groups, and dedicated civilian volunteers defended the government’s final stronghold in the Darfur region—an area the size of Spain, located in western Sudan. Holding out for 500 days made el-Fasher a stark symbol of the suffering wrought by Sudan’s war.

An administrative centre and major commercial hub, the city also carries historical weight, having been the former capital of the Sultanate of Darfur. Latterly, it was a forward military base for government forces. In 2009, the United Nations estimated its population at around 500,000. Before the outbreak of war in 2023, its population had swollen to an estimated 1.5 million, many having fled there from the RSF.

Control of el-Fasher gives the RSF full access to critical supply routes. To the north are the neighbouring states of Chad and Libya, through which provisions, ammunition, and fighters are moved, while to the south is the RSF-controlled city of Nyala.

From siege to slaughter

Analysts have long thought full RSF control of Darfur was a matter of ‘when, not if,’ and since May 2024, there have been escalating attacks on the city’s outskirts, targeting residential areas and vital infrastructure, accompanied by a complete blockade of all major access routes. Intensifying artillery bombardments and drone strikes prompted a mass exodus from surrounding neighbourhoods and nearby villages.

By the end of 2024, the city’s population had fallen below 800,000. By the time the RSF finally took control, that figure had dwindled to around 300,000. According to estimates from UN agencies and the Red Crescent, this sharp fall was driven by widespread displacement and mounting deaths due to violence and starvation.

As el-Fasher’s social fabric began to break down, hundreds of thousands fled, leaving the city all but deserted. Yet even in flight, the RSF pursued them, executing many on ethnic grounds. Those who remained were trapped between violence and despair, as the RSF cut off food and medicine while targeting fleeing civilians. Humanitarian aid was blocked, leading to the collapse of relief networks and outbreaks of disease.

And upon taking over el-Fasher, horrific attrocities have already been committed with the United Nations confirming RSF militants massacring 460 patients and their companions at the Saudi Maternity Hospital there.

Civilians fled to Tawila some 60 kilometres away with many arriving “dehydrated, injured and traumatised,” according to a post on social media by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

AFP
Displaced Sudanese who fled el-Fasher after the city fell to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), arrive in the town of Tawila war-torn Sudan's western Darfur region on 28 October 2025.

Since July 2024, Sudan has recorded more than 96,000 suspected cases of cholera, resulting in 2,400 deaths, with the open-air prison of el-Fasher being the epicentre. With a lack of clean water and medical facilities targeted by RSF bombing, infectious diseases spread rapidly, particularly among the city’s 130,000 children, who accounted for around half of the besieged population by October 2025.

With hospitals and clinics targeted, it appears that nowhere has been off limits. Even places of worship have not been spared. On 19 September, the RSF launched a drone strike on Al-Daraja Mosque in el-Fasher, killing at least 78 worshippers during dawn prayers and injuring many more. On 9 October, another mosque in the city was bombed, killing 13 worshippers and injuring 20.

Foreign-sponsored mercenary fighters from Colombia were first reported in Sudan in 2024, fighting for the RSF. This introduced a new and perilous dimension to the siege of el-Fasher. In August, Sudan’s air force said it had destroyed an aircraft carrying Colombian mercenaries to Nyala, killing at least 40 people.

The Colombians have primarily been tasked with conducting advanced sniper operations, training militia units in the use of sophisticated drones, and executing complex special operations against fortified government positions. Their involvement has led to increased casualties among the city’s defenders, hastening the collapse of defensive lines and compounding civilian suffering.

Satellite imagery showed RSF berms being built around el-Fasher to block civilian escape and prevent the entry of humanitarian aid, turning the city into a "kill box"

A pivotal moment in the city's fall came when Zamzam Camp, housing around 300,000 people before the war and a crucial military outpost for government forces, was attacked in April 2025. After an intense three-day assault, which killed hundreds (including aid workers), the camp was captured by the RSF. Tens of thousands of civilians were forced to flee to el-Fasher.

As the siege wore on, civil and military defence efforts began to buckle under the pressure of exhaustion, hunger, and dwindling ammunition. The RSF capitalised, tightening its grip on residential districts and key infrastructure. By December 2024, at least 782 civilians had been killed and 1,143 injured. By the city's eventual fall, the death toll had run into the thousands, at least a fifth of whom were children.

Humanitarian impact

In the first six months of the siege, from May to November 2024, around 250,000 people braved the shelling and marauding RSF gangs to flee the city. By August 2025, the total number of displaced individuals had exceeded 700,000. Up to 15,000 are estimated to have died from violence, starvation, or disease.

With schools and hospitals closed, and nearly all economic activity halted, civilians were left exposed and defenceless, as Yale University's Humanitarian Conflict Observatory reported having seen—through satellite imagery—RSF berms (raised earth barriers) being built around el-Fasher to block civilian escape and prevent the entry of humanitarian aid. It turned the city into what observers described as a "kill box".

The city's fall on 26 October was not the result of a conventional battle, but of prolonged encirclement that dismantled resistance through the systematic targeting of civilians. Since the RSF seized control, systematic violations against civilians have intensified, from extrajudicial killings to abductions and torture. Looting is widespread.

Suham Hassan Hasballah, the youngest MP in Sudan's history, was among those executed by the RSF for her civil activism and refusal to abandon her community. Journalist Moamer Ibrahim, who documented the suffering and war crimes in el-Fasher, was detained shortly after the militia takeover.

He later appeared in an RSF video, where he was intimidated and humiliated by RSF fighters. Other verified videos show civilians being arrested and summarily executed, in flagrant violations of the Geneva Conventions and international humanitarian law. These killings are part of a deliberate policy of mass terror, aimed at silencing dissent.

Looking ahead

The RSF and its foreign backers will benefit from the fall of el-Fasher. With full dominance over North Darfur, which cements a de facto secession, the militia can now threaten supply routes into central Sudan. There is talk of mass displacement that would alter the region's demographic landscape.

Rapid Support Forces (RSF) / AFP
This image grab taken from handout video footage released on Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces Telegram account on 26 October 2025, shows RSF fighters celebrating in the streets of el-Fasher.

In the short term, escalating ethnic abuses are further exacerbating supply shortages for Sudan's predicted 14 million displaced persons by the end of 2025, as the remaining pockets of resistance get picked off one by one. In short, Sudan faces internal fragmentation, a surge in arms proliferation, ethnic divisions, and the continuing prospect of genocide. The emergence of a 'parallel state' under RSF rule is now more likely with the fall of el-Fasher. Earlier this year, an RSF 'government' was announced in Nyala, which may yet become a model blueprint.

For many, the city's fall resulted not from RSF military strength, but from the moral and political failure of the largely silent international community, which prioritised compromise with the RSF over the protection of a starving civilian population. With humanitarian aid looted, displacement along ethnic lines, and war crimes widely reported, the international response was limited to vague expressions of concern.

By the time some Western capitals finally spoke of the "urgent" need to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe in el-Fasher, it was already too late. Massacres had taken place, mass displacement had occurred, and the city's social fabric had been torn apart. From a potential intervener, the world could only then be a belated witness. Sometimes, diplomatic statements and delayed fact-finding missions feel insufficient.

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Related topics Sudan civil war Darfur Sudan Crisis
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