KHARTOUM, Sudan
At least 7,455 people were displaced from the besieged city of El-Fasher in western Sudan in a single day due to attacks by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), bringing the total number to 33,485 over three days, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said late Tuesday.
For several days, Sudanese authorities and international and UN organizations have accused the RSF of committing “massacres and humanitarian violations” against civilians in El-Fasher, including “summary executions,” arrests and forced displacement, as the group began storming the city Sunday after besieging it for more than a year.
In a statement, the IOM said that on Oct. 28, field teams estimated the displacement of an additional 7,455 people due to ongoing clashes in El-Fasher.
It added that reports indicate a total of 33,485 people displaced between Oct. 26-28.
On Monday, the organization said the number of displaced people from El-Fasher between Oct. 26-27 had reached 26,030, noting that the figure is preliminary and subject to change due to the continuing insecurity and rapid pace of displacement.
According to the agency, most of the displaced have fled to rural areas within El-Fasher locality, while others have reached the areas of Tawila, Mellit and Kebkabiya west of the city.
Unofficial estimates suggest that before the RSF’s incursion, El-Fasher had a population of about 500,000, while around one million of its residents had already been displaced in recent years.
Meanwhile, the El-Fasher Resistance Coordination, a grassroots committee, said that “all the wounded and injured inside the Saudi (Maternity) Hospital were collectively executed by Janjaweed militias (RSF) in horrific ways—killed while they were between life and death, at a time when humanity no longer has a place.”
In the statement Tuesday, the committee added that the wounded in El-Fasher “were waiting for a helping hand, but mercy vanished before medicine could reach them, and hospitals fell into a terrifying silence, broken only by groans that suddenly ceased.”
Calling for all those responsible for the violations in El-Fasher to be prosecuted, the Arab League earlier Tuesday condemned the “atrocious crimes” committed against civilians, stressing the urgent need for a ceasefire in the city, which has been under RSF siege for more than a year.
The announcement came amid intense clashes in El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state in western Sudan, between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the RSF, which recently claimed control of the city.
The Chairman of Sudan’s Transitional Sovereignty Council, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, confirmed Monday that army forces had withdrawn from the city to prevent further “systematic destruction and killing” of civilians by the RSF.
Meanwhile, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan Denise Brown called on the RSF on Tuesday to allow civilians to leave El-Fasher, as they remain at risk of death and injury.
The international medical group Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) also urged authorities to protect civilians in El-Fasher and permit them to reach safer areas.
Since April 15, 2023, the army and the RSF have been locked in a war that numerous regional and international mediations have failed to end. The conflict has killed thousands of people and displaced over 15 million.
