At least 25 people were reportedly killed and dozens wounded in an attack by Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) Saturday on the city of El-Fasher in western Darfur, local pro-democracy activists El-Fasher Resistance Committees shared on Facebook. 

In their post, the Resistance Committees accused the militia of “indiscriminately shelling the city’s neighborhoods with heavy artillery.” Sharing photos of civilians’ homes which had been targeted, as well as hospitals and markets, the Resistance Committees alleged that the RSF deliberately dropped shells on civilians in the area. The RSF has denied launching the assault and declined further comment. 

Director-general of North Darfur State’s Health Ministry also confirmed that the RSF’s attack killed more than 25 people and injured over 50 others, according to Chinese official Xinhua News Agency.

The surge of violence comes amid weeks of a stalemate in El-Fasher, which is the national army’s (Sudan Armed Forces, SAF) last remaining stronghold in the Darfur region and a key front in the civil war with the RSF, which has seen Sudan descend into one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises since fighting broke out in April 2023. 

In May this year, the UN human rights chief Volker Türk also warned of the potential “humanitarian catastrophe” brought by the escalating violence in the city. Türk then called on commanders of both sides to urgently cease hostilities and resume ceasefire negotiations, highlighting that the city of El-Fasher has a dense population of 1.8 million residents and internally displaced people who are also at imminent risk of famine.

Since the conflict began last year, several reports and articles have emerged, highlighting the plight of the Sudanese civilians caught in the middle of the violence. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported that over 10 million Sudanese have been displaced from their homes as a result of the conflict, crossing borders into neighboring countries such as South Sudan and Egypt to escape the violence. Several bodies have also cautioned about the extreme risk of famine, lest the factions cease their fighting or allow “unimpeded humanitarian access.”

Violence first erupted between the (para)military factions due to a power struggle between the leader of the SAF, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and RSF figurehead Mohammed Hamdan ‘Hemedti’ Dagalo. Both leaders and several civil servants agreed to integrate the RSF into the SAF to create a single, consolidated military; however, tensions quickly emerged over how this integration would take place, and more importantly, who would assume leadership over the single military unit.