RESIDENTS in El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, are at risk of a large-scale massacre and widespread famine, as the Sudanese Army and its rival faction the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been locked in battle for more than a year.
Before the fighting started in El-Fasher, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield told journalists a few weeks ago that the capital city of Sudan’s North Darfur region is “on the precipice of a large-scale massacre” as the paramilitary rapid support forces and its allied militias plan a massive attack.
“As I’ve said before, history is repeating itself in Darfur in the worst possible way, and an attack on El Fasher would be a disaster on top of a disaster. It would put five hundred thousand internally displaced persons at risk, people who traveled from across Darfur to seek refuge. And that’s on top of the two million Sudanese who call El Fasher home,” Linda Thomas-Greenfield U.S. Ambassador to U.N. said.
The U.S. envoy added the fighting will put about five million people in Sudan on the brink of famine and thousands of others internally displaced.
The civil war in Sudan started on April 15, 2023, as two rival factions of the military government engaged in a deadly struggle for control of the North African nation that is home to nearly 50 million people.
From the Sudanese capital of Khartoum, fighting has entered North Darfur after more than a year of fighting, as the latest clashes raised fears of a full-blown war.
Some nine million people need humanitarian assistance in Darfur alone and a staggering 24.8 million across Sudan, according to the United Nations.
The United States imposed sanctions against two commanders of Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
The UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan warned time is running out as famine, disease, and fighting engulfed civilian residents in North Darfur.
Meanwhile, the United Nations human rights chief described the escalating violence in the region as “hell on Earth.”
The death toll has now exceeded 15,000 since April 15, 2023, based on real-time data sources.
