As Sudan’s brutal civil war grinds into its third year, a fresh wave of violence and humanitarian catastrophe has engulfed the nation, with the western city of El-Fasher and the Kordofan region at the heart of the crisis. The conflict, which erupted in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), has left at least 40,000 dead and displaced 12 million, according to the World Health Organization. But in recent weeks, the suffering has reached new depths, with reports of mass atrocities, sexual violence, and famine emerging from the RSF-dominated regions of Darfur.
On October 26, 2025, RSF fighters stormed El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, after an 18-month siege, breaking the last government stronghold in the region. The takeover unleashed a torrent of violence against civilians, including detentions, torture, and shootings as desperate residents tried to flee. According to videos and witness accounts cited by The New York Times, bloodstained patches of sand marked the sites of killings, while a Sudanese doctors’ association reported dozens of rapes.
In the aftermath, the Sudan Doctors Network confirmed 32 cases of rape among girls fleeing El-Fasher in just one week, with some attacks occurring inside the city after the RSF takeover and others as victims attempted to escape to the nearby town of Tawila. The group condemned these crimes as “a clear breach of international humanitarian law and amounts to war crimes and crimes against humanity.” Their statement, reported by 5Pillars UK, emphasized the “extent of the disorder and systematic abuses facing women and girls in areas controlled by the RSF, amid the absence of protection and a complete lack of accountability.” They called for an urgent, independent international investigation and immediate protection and support for survivors.
The humanitarian situation in Darfur has been described as catastrophic. United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Tom Fletcher, speaking to Al Jazeera from Tawila, painted a harrowing picture: “Darfur has become the world’s capital of human suffering.” He noted that international funding and support are “woefully insufficient to address the needs on the ground.” Nearly 100,000 people have fled El-Fasher in recent weeks, but only about 10,000 have reached Tawila, the nearest city with substantial aid presence. Many remain missing, with at least some reportedly held in “so-called detention centers” near El-Fasher, Fletcher told The New York Times.
The RSF’s control now extends across all five Darfur states—roughly one-fifth of Sudan’s territory—while the army holds the remaining 13 states, including the capital, Khartoum. Despite the RSF’s territorial gains, most of Sudan’s 50 million people live in army-held areas. The RSF’s campaign has been marked by repeated accusations of mass atrocities, ethnic massacres, and sexual violence. The International Criminal Court is collecting evidence for possible prosecutions, but the death toll from the fall of El-Fasher alone remains unclear, with some estimates running into the thousands.
Efforts to deliver humanitarian aid have been fraught with danger. Earlier this year, United Nations convoys attempting to reach El-Fasher were struck by drone attacks. Just last week, as Tom Fletcher toured Darfur, a drone fired missiles that destroyed a convoy of trucks in Zalingei, about 135 miles southwest of El-Fasher, only hours after he passed through. A passing U.N. vehicle was struck by shrapnel. The intertwining of war, politics, and aid has made relief efforts perilous and unpredictable.
In a rare meeting on November 16, 2025, Fletcher negotiated with senior RSF officials in a remote Darfur town. The RSF pledged to allow the United Nations into El-Fasher to deliver aid and investigate atrocities “in a matter of days, not months,” Fletcher told The New York Times. However, he cautioned that “we’ve got to be careful” to ensure fighters do not dictate where and how relief is delivered. RSF’s top aid official, Ezzaddean Elsafi, insisted the group was making “considerable efforts toward protecting civilians and providing basic services for millions of people” in Sudan, but criticized Fletcher for not visiting El-Fasher directly, calling it “deeply discouraging, especially to those who had been waiting for you.”
Meanwhile, the conflict has spread eastward into the Kordofan region, sparking intense battles as both sides vie for control of strategic towns and supply routes. The RSF has pushed into North, South, and West Kordofan, seeking to capture key urban centers such as El-Obeid, which houses a major army airbase and serves as a buffer for Khartoum. The army has maintained control of El-Obeid, as well as key towns like Um Rawaba and Al-Rahd, reinforcing its presence along vital roads to prevent RSF infiltration. On October 25, 2025, the RSF recaptured Bara, a strategic town 25 miles north of El-Obeid, linking North Kordofan to Omdurman, west of the capital.
The struggle for Babnusa, the last army stronghold in West Kordofan, has been particularly fierce. On November 16, 2025, the army said it had repelled an RSF attack on its headquarters in the town, which has faced repeated assaults. Satellite images analyzed by Al Jazeera revealed extensive damage to army facilities, including drone strikes and shelling that have restricted army movements. However, more recent footage, verified by Al Jazeera’s Sanad fact-checking agency, showed Sudanese army soldiers celebrating the capture of armored vehicles abandoned by retreating RSF fighters.
Elsewhere in North Kordofan, the army has made gains, recapturing Um Sayala town, 200 kilometers north of El-Obeid, after fierce clashes, as well as restoring authority over Umm Dham Haj Ahmad and Kazgil. The RSF continues to hold positions in northern and western parts of the state, including Jabra Al-Sheikh, Hamrat El Sheikh, Al-Mazroob, Soudari, and Umm Badr—gateways into North Darfur.
Despite calls for a ceasefire from the United States and regional stakeholders, both sides have pressed on with military operations. The RSF claims it is ready to accept a humanitarian truce proposal brokered by President Trump’s adviser on Africa, Massad Boulos, involving talks with the Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt. However, Sudan’s military has rejected the ceasefire out of hand. The United Arab Emirates, widely accused by U.N. investigators and American lawmakers of supplying the RSF with drones and weapons, denies supporting either side, though Human Rights Watch’s Laetitia Bader urged, “States should name and shame the U.A.E. by publicly calling on it to end its support to the R.S.F.”
The international community’s attention has been slow to focus on Sudan, often overshadowed by crises in Gaza and Ukraine. Yet, as Tom Fletcher observed, “There’s a sense that growing anger is putting the voltage we need through the international system.” Whether this attention will endure—and whether it can translate into meaningful protection and relief for Sudan’s embattled civilians—remains to be seen.
The fate of El-Fasher, the suffering in Darfur, and the battles raging across Kordofan now stand as stark reminders of the human cost of war, and the urgent need for accountability, humanitarian access, and a negotiated peace.
