Mon Oct 06 07:37:56 UTC 2025: ## El-Fasher’s Population Plummets Amid Escalating RSF Attacks, Sparking Humanitarian Crisis
**El-Fasher, Sudan** – The population of El-Fasher, the last major urban stronghold of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) in the Darfur region, has plummeted by a staggering 62% as attacks by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) intensify. A United Nations report reveals a massive surge in displacement, turning El-Fasher into a focal point of the escalating humanitarian crisis gripping Sudan.
According to data published by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), over one million people have fled El-Fasher since the start of Sudan’s civil war in April 2023, with the exodus accelerating following the RSF’s loss of Khartoum earlier this year. The number of internally displaced people (IDP) sheltering in the city has fallen drastically, from nearly 700,000 in March to just over 200,000 by September.
This dramatic decline coincides with the SAF’s recapture of Khartoum in late March, prompting the RSF to concentrate its efforts on consolidating control over Darfur. The RSF has maintained a siege of El-Fasher since May 2024, effectively cutting off supply routes and trapping an estimated 260,000 civilians, including 130,000 children, without sustained humanitarian access.
The Yale Humanitarian Lab has released satellite imagery indicating the RSF has constructed earthen berms encircling the city, enforcing the siege and preventing the movement of supplies and people.
Recent weeks have witnessed escalating violence, including a devastating drone attack on a mosque during Friday prayers in September that killed over 70 worshippers. The UN has expressed alarm over the possibility of “ethnically motivated” killings if the city falls to the RSF, citing reports of the RSF targeting non-Arab populations across Darfur.
UN investigators have accused both sides of committing atrocities, with the RSF allegedly engaging in “murder, torture, enslavement, rape, sexual slavery, sexual violence, forced displacement, and persecution on ethnic, gender, and political grounds.”
The humanitarian situation within El-Fasher is dire. The vast majority of households surveyed in August reported needing healthcare, yet were unable to access it due to destroyed facilities, insecurity, and lack of medicine. Food security has also deteriorated sharply, with nearly 90% of households facing poor or borderline food consumption. UNICEF reports that over 1,100 grave violations against children have been verified in El-Fasher since the siege began, including over 1,000 children killed or maimed.
The battle for El-Fasher is crucial to the outcome of the broader Sudanese civil war. The RSF already controls most of western Sudan, including nearly all of Darfur, while government forces hold the north and the east. The fall of El-Fasher would give the paramilitary force control over virtually the entire Darfur region, further deepening the country’s political divide and exacerbating what has already been described as the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.
First Piper 