Civilians Under Siege in Sudan’s El Fasher Town, Catholic Entities among Over 100 Calling for Their Protection

The letter calls for decisive intervention by the international community in light of evidence published by Yale’s Humanitarian Research Lab that the RSF has built walls at the edges of the city to control the movement of persons, and that an estimated 260,000 people, including 130,000 children, have endured a 17-month siege by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

“Time is running out for the estimated 260,000 civilians, including 130,000 children, trapped in El Fasher, Darfur’s final battleground between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF),” the organizations say in their letter.

They add, “The RSF has besieged the North Darfur capital for over 500 days, using starvation as a weapon of warfare by blocking food and lifesaving humanitarian assistance from entering.”

“We, the undersigned civil society organisations and humanitarian actors, urgently call for safe humanitarian access, including voluntary evacuation routes for the civilians trapped in El Fasher,” they say, and add, “Evacuation routes need to be secured without delay to provide civilians in El Fasher safe, voluntary, and dignified passage.”

The organizations report that over 470,000 people have been displaced from El Fasher and surrounding areas since the start of the siege in May 2024.

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They say that in the past four weeks, conflict between the belligerents and their allied militias has sharply escalated, along with atrocity crimes against civilians. 

According to the organizations, many of them research agencies privy to the Sudanese civil war, the El Fasher is the main battleground between the RSF and the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) in Darfur.

The city has been under siege since April 2024 during which places of worship have been targeted, the organizations say.

During the siege, civilians trapped in the city have also endured months of cholera devastation, with little help, as humanitarian agencies are not allowed entry into the city.

In an interview with ACI Africa last month, an official at the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD) spoke about the devastating situation in El Fasher, where there is no one going in, and only a few are risking to get in to deliver aid.

Telley Sadia, CAFOD’s Country Representative for Sudan spoke about the growing humanitarian crisis in the east-central African country, and the need for the international press to give the country “a voice.”

“This is one of the biggest humanitarian situations in the world which, unfortunately, has not received much international press. Sudan is not heard,” the Ugandan-born official who has worked in Sudan for many years said when he spoke to ACI Africa about CAFOD’s response to the cholera outbreak in the embattled country.

Sadia told ACI Africa that accessibility to places where fighting is still going on remains a challenge and getting aid to the people who are trapped there is not easy.

One of the places he highlighted that remain inaccessible is El Fasher town. “For you to get to this place, you must first go to Chad. You fly to Egypt or Ethiopia, then connect to N’Djamena. At the border between Chad and Sudan, you encounter a fresh set of challenges. You must first be cleared by Chad authorities. You get a visa, which sometimes takes days to process before you are cleared to proceed to Sudan,” he said.

In their letter calling for action, the civil society organizations and humanitarian actors lament that “global paralysis” in the response to the Sudan war is contributing to the loss of lives across the country. 

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“Words of condemnation will not save lives in El Fasher,” they say, and add, “However, decisive action by the international community can still prevent the continued massacre of civilians trapped in El Fasher.”

They say that a humanitarian access plan must be developed and executed “as a matter of urgency”, in accordance with international humanitarian law, and with binding agreements from all parties to the conflict to respect and uphold the safety of civilians. 

“Negotiations on safe passage and humanitarian access should be actively pursued by diplomatic missions, regional entities, and international stakeholders to ensure unimpeded civilian evacuation,” they say.

Agnes Aineah is a Kenyan journalist with a background in digital and newspaper reporting. She holds a Master of Arts in Digital Journalism from the Aga Khan University, Graduate School of Media and Communications and a Bachelor's Degree in Linguistics, Media and Communications from Kenya's Moi University. Agnes currently serves as a journalist for ACI Africa.