In the besieged Sudanese city of el-Fasher, a grim tableau of conflict, deprivation, and fear has unfolded over the past year, with recent developments signaling a deepening crisis for the hundreds of thousands of civilians trapped within its boundaries. Satellite images and on-the-ground reports paint a picture of a city encircled by violence and earthworks, where escape is perilous and survival grows more precarious by the day.
According to research by Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL), el-Fasher, the last major foothold for Sudan’s army in Darfur, is now nearly surrounded by an extensive earthen wall constructed by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The HRL has identified more than 31 kilometers (19 miles) of berms built since May 2025, forming a physical barrier that both contains and endangers the population. The construction, visible in detailed satellite imagery, has been carried out in segments: 7 kilometers erected between May 5 and July 12, 9 kilometers between July 14 and July 24, 6 kilometers between August 3 and August 19, and a further 9 kilometers with ongoing work from August 13 to August 27.
BBC reporting, corroborated by the HRL, suggests these berms are not merely defensive fortifications. Instead, they serve to tighten the siege, controlling the movement of roughly 300,000 residents and deepening their isolation. The HRL’s analysis is stark: the RSF "is creating a literal kill box around el-Fasher," restricting both entry and exit, and making the delivery of food, medicine, and other essentials nearly impossible. The physical wall, the HRL notes, is a strategic move that creates the tactical conditions necessary for the RSF to defeat the army division still holding out in the city.
The humanitarian toll has been devastating. The Sudan Doctors Network told the BBC that the RSF has been intensifying its offensive and deliberately targeting civilians. Dr. Mohamed Faisal Hassan described recent atrocities: "Yesterday there was a shelling in a civilian area down in the city centre that ended up killing almost 24 civilians and injuring 55 people, among them five women." He further recounted, "Three days ago they targeted one of the biggest hospitals in el-Fasher and resulted in a massive massacre of patients and medical staff." These attacks, he said, were "deliberate" and "heinous."
The violence has not spared the city’s infrastructure. A segment of the berm constructed through Alsen village shows that most of the village was destroyed between May 20 and July 6, 2025. Additionally, the HRL identified damage from RSF bombardments to a crucial water treatment facility near the airport, which, despite the destruction, remains operational for now.
For the people of el-Fasher, daily life is a struggle for survival. Humanitarian organizations have been unable to access the city for months, leaving civilians to endure constant bombardment, food scarcity, and a lack of medical care. "Some civilians are trying to escape the city but sadly they are being targeted and killed by the RSF forces," Dr. Hassan told the BBC. For many, escape is simply not an option. As 37-year-old schoolteacher Halima Hashim told AFP, "We have no money. Leaving is dangerous." Staying behind, she said, was like a slow death.
International concern has mounted as the situation has deteriorated. On August 29, 2025, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres called for an immediate ceasefire in and around el-Fasher. His spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, said the UN chief is "appalled by the relentless attacks by the Rapid Support Forces on North Darfur’s capital." Guterres is alarmed at the "grave risks of serious violations of international humanitarian law as well as violations and abuses of international human rights law, including ethnically motivated ones," according to a statement reported by Xinhua.
The UN has documented at least 125 civilian deaths in the el-Fasher area since August 11, including summary executions, with the actual toll likely higher. The violence has been especially severe in the Abu Shouk displacement camp, where near-continuous shelling and deadly incursions have been reported in recent weeks. Famine conditions were identified there as far back as December 2024.
Children have borne a disproportionate share of the suffering. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) described el-Fasher as the "epicentre of suffering for children." The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported that malnutrition, disease, and violence are claiming young lives every day, with an estimated 260,000 civilians—half of them children—trapped in the city. Since January 2025, more than 10,000 children have been treated for severe acute malnutrition, nearly double the figure from the previous year. In one particularly grim week, at least 63 people, mostly women and children, reportedly died of malnutrition.
Despite supplies being pre-positioned nearby, efforts by the United Nations and its partners to deliver aid into el-Fasher have been repeatedly thwarted. Attacks on humanitarian personnel and assets in North Darfur have made safe, unhindered, and sustained delivery of assistance nearly impossible. The UN has called for immediate steps to protect civilians and enable the safe passage of aid, as well as to allow any civilians wishing to leave the area to do so safely.
The RSF, for its part, has denied charges of targeting civilians and carrying out ethnic cleansing. However, observers warn that the fall of el-Fasher would grant the RSF full control over the western region of Darfur—a shift that could potentially lead to the partitioning of Sudan, as both the RSF and the army have established their own rival administrations.
Amid this turmoil, voices for peace and protection have grown louder. Adeeb Abdel Rahman Youssef, a former governor of central Darfur State now working with the NGO People to People, appealed to the UN Security Council to intervene. "The civilian population in el-Fasher is paying the heaviest price. There is no one to protect them," he told the BBC World Service.
As of late August 2025, the construction of the earthen wall continues, and the siege shows no sign of abating. For those trapped inside el-Fasher, the world’s attention—and action—cannot come soon enough.
