In the heart of Sudan’s Darfur, the city of El-Fasher has become a symbol of both human endurance and unimaginable suffering. Over the past several weeks, the world has watched as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF)—a paramilitary group with roots in the notorious Janjaweed militias—tightened their grip on the city, culminating in a brutal takeover on October 26, 2025, after an 18-month siege. The consequences of this victory have rippled across the region, leaving behind a trail of devastation, loss, and a humanitarian emergency that shows no sign of abating.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), one of the most shocking incidents during the RSF’s advance was the reported execution of Taj al-Sir Ahmed Suleiman, director of the Sudan News Agency (SUNA) office in El-Fasher, and his brother. The two men were allegedly killed in their home in the Al-Daraga neighborhood as RSF fighters swept through the city. SUNA confirmed Suleiman’s death on November 27, stating that he had been a crucial source of verified information throughout the siege, and his loss represents a devastating blow to independent reporting in North Darfur.
“We are appalled by the reported killing of SUNA bureau chief Taj al-Sir Ahmed Suleiman and his brother after RSF forces advanced into El-Fasher,” CPJ Chief Programs Officer Carlos Martínez de la Serna said in a statement. He called for an urgent investigation and demanded that Sudanese authorities hold those responsible to account. The CPJ also highlighted the broader dangers facing journalists in the region, noting that at least 15 journalists and media workers have been killed since the war between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the RSF erupted in April 2023. Abductions, disappearances, sexual violence, and deadly attacks have become grim facts of life for those trying to report from El-Fasher, all while the city endures a communications blackout and severe shortages of food, medical care, and shelter.
But the violence has not been limited to journalists. On December 2, 2025, the Sudan Doctors Network reported that four people—including a child—were killed by RSF militants in the Al-Daraja neighborhood, the same area where Suleiman lost his life. The medical group described the killings as direct threats to civilians and violations of international law. They urgently called for the opening of safe corridors to evacuate thousands of civilians who are being held without access to essential services, all in the midst of a total communication blackout. Their plea was echoed by humanitarian organizations and international observers, who warned that the situation in El-Fasher and its surroundings is growing more desperate by the day.
Perhaps nowhere is this desperation more visible than in the plight of the region’s children. The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) has sounded the alarm over what it calls a “hidden tragedy” unfolding as hundreds of children, separated from their families, arrive alone in the city of Tawila after fleeing the violence in El-Fasher. At least 400 unaccompanied minors have been registered, though the NRC believes the real number is much higher. These children, dehydrated and traumatized, have walked for days without adequate food or water, and many have no idea what has become of their parents. Aid workers describe scenes of utter exhaustion and trauma: children too shaken to speak, haunted by nightmares, and at constant risk of abduction, trafficking, sexual violence, forced recruitment by armed groups, and even organ trafficking.
The influx of refugees has overwhelmed Tawila, which has seen at least 15,000 new arrivals since late October, with an average of 200 children arriving daily. The United Nations reports that over 100,000 people have fled El-Fasher in the month since its capture, straining the already fragile infrastructure of camps and support services in Tawila and beyond. Teachers and aid workers are struggling to provide even the most basic care, and the collapse of local services has left these vulnerable children exposed to dangers that no child should ever face.
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk has described the events in El-Fasher as “crimes of the worst kind.” His words underscore the scale of the crisis, which has left children not only in immediate danger but also robbed of their families, their safety, and their childhoods. The breakdown of civilian protection in Sudan’s conflict has been laid bare, and the international community is being called upon to act before the suffering deepens further.
The RSF’s advance has not stopped at El-Fasher. On December 1, 2025, the paramilitary group overran the 22nd Infantry Division of the Sudanese Armed Forces in Babanusa, West Kordofan State—a strategic town on the road to Khartoum and the closest major urban center to Darfur in Kordofan. This division had been under siege since January 2024, and its defeat signals a further consolidation of RSF power in the region. While the SAF maintains that its soldiers are still fighting in Babanusa, reports indicate that the only surviving brigade has retreated toward the southeastern corner of West Kordofan, near the vital Heglig oil field.
The attack on Babanusa came just after Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, chief of the SAF and head of Sudan’s government in exile in Port Sudan, rejected a US-backed ceasefire proposal by the Quad—a diplomatic group including the US, UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt. Burhan accused the US envoy of “dictating terms on behalf of the militia’s foreign backers,” a pointed reference to the UAE, which has been accused of supporting the RSF by facilitating the smuggling of gold from Darfur in exchange for weapons.
The broader conflict, which began in April 2023, has already claimed at least 40,000 lives and displaced some 12 million people, according to the World Health Organization. The RSF now controls all five Darfur states out of Sudan’s 18, while the army holds most of the remaining 13, including Khartoum. The struggle for control has become a zero-sum game, with civilians caught in the crossfire and suffering the most.
Medical groups and humanitarian organizations continue to call for the opening of safe corridors and urgent international intervention to protect civilians and stop the mounting rights abuses. As the RSF presses its advantage and the SAF struggles to regroup, the people of El-Fasher, Tawila, and beyond remain trapped in a nightmare with no clear end in sight. The world is watching, but for many in Sudan, help cannot come soon enough.
In the shadow of war, the stories of El-Fasher’s lost children, fallen journalists, and besieged civilians stand as a stark reminder of the human cost of conflict—and the urgent need for action before more lives are shattered.
