Sun Aug 31 17:03:37 UTC 2025: Okay, here’s a summary of the provided text and a rewritten version as a news article, aiming for a tone suitable for *The Hindu*:
**Summary:**
Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) intensified their offensive on El-Fasher, the last major city in Darfur under army control, on August 31, 2025. Shelling killed at least seven and wounded 71, with the actual toll likely higher. The RSF has escalated its siege, bombarding populated areas, the airport, and displacement camps. Hospitals are struggling, and shortages of food and water are severe. The UN warns of widespread malnutrition, with many resorting to desperate measures for survival. Satellite imagery shows the RSF has effectively trapped the Sudanese army and civilians within a small area. The RSF’s actions raise concerns of potential ethnic cleansing targeting non-Arab groups, mirroring past atrocities in Darfur, raising serious question if the world is going to intervene.
**News Article:**
**RSF Offensive in El-Fasher Kills Civilians, Raises Fears of Famine and Ethnic Cleansing**
*Khartoum, August 31, 2025* – At least seven civilians were killed and 71 wounded on Sunday, August 31, 2025, in El-Fasher, Darfur, as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) launched their most intense offensive yet on the besieged city. A medical source confirmed the casualties, noting that the true toll is likely higher due to the difficulty in reaching hospitals amidst the ongoing bombardment.
El-Fasher, the last major city in the Darfur region still under the control of the Sudanese army, has become the epicentre of the conflict that erupted in April 2023. The RSF has intensified its long-running siege in recent weeks, launching fierce artillery barrages targeting densely populated neighbourhoods, the city’s airport, and the Abu Shouk displacement camp.
The escalating violence has severely impacted the city’s already strained infrastructure. The few remaining operational hospitals have been repeatedly bombarded, and the RSF has captured the local police headquarters. The medical source, speaking on condition of anonymity, reported that 22 of the wounded are in critical condition.
Local activists report that the attacks struck several neighbourhoods in the city’s west, near the airport, which the RSF seeks to control. Satellite imagery from Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab revealed that the RSF has constructed extensive berms, effectively creating a “kill box” within the city. The imagery also indicated damage to the city’s water authority, further exacerbating the humanitarian crisis.
“The pattern of life is ending,” said Nathaniel Raymond, executive director of the lab. “They are dying in poverty, crossfire and bombardment, and they’re being killed as they’re trying to leave.”
The United Nations estimates that some 300,000 civilians are trapped within El-Fasher, enduring severe shortages of food and water for over a year. Famine was officially declared in three displacement camps around El-Fasher last year, and the UN warns that it could spread to the city itself. Malnutrition rates are alarmingly high, with nearly 40 percent of children under five acutely malnourished.
Experts warn of potential ethnic cleansing targeting the city’s non-Arab Zaghawa tribe, drawing parallels to the massacres in El-Geneina in 2023, where thousands, mostly from the Massalit tribe, were killed in violence blamed on RSF forces. Both warring sides have been accused of war crimes, with the RSF facing particular condemnation for alleged genocide, sexual violence, and systematic looting.
“The Janjaweed are about to win the entire genocide that began in the early 21st century,” Raymond said. “And the world isn’t going to do anything about it.”
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