On December 1, 2025, the already battered landscape of Sudan’s civil war shifted again as the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) announced the capture of Babanusa, a vital transport junction deep in the country’s oil-rich south. The RSF’s statement, reported by Reuters and others, claimed it had achieved "a crushing victory" after repelling a surprise dawn attack by the Sudanese army, describing the event as the "liberation" of Babanusa in West Kordofan state. The RSF said it had inflicted heavy casualties and destroyed significant military hardware, while footage posted online showed jubilant fighters celebrating inside the city’s 22nd Division army base, chanting and firing into the air.
The fall of Babanusa, once a major railway hub linking western Sudan to the east and north, marks yet another blow to the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) little more than a month after they lost El Fasher, the last army stronghold in Darfur, to the RSF in October. According to BBC and The National, the RSF now controls all of Darfur—an area roughly the size of France—as well as swathes of Kordofan, while the army retains Khartoum and the eastern, central, and northern regions. Yet, more than half of Sudan’s 50 million people are facing hunger as the war grinds on, and the conflict has triggered the world’s largest displacement crisis: over 13 million people have been forced from their homes, and tens of thousands have died since the war erupted in April 2023.
The origins of this brutal conflict lie in a power struggle between RSF leader General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo and army chief General Abdel Fattah Al Burhan, Sudan’s de facto ruler. The RSF, originally formed from the notorious Janjaweed militias, has steadily expanded its territory and influence, often at horrific cost to civilians. The capture of El Fasher after an 18-month siege was particularly devastating, with widespread reports of atrocities committed during the city’s fall. Survivors who fled to camps in army-held territory, such as the tent city near al-Dabbah, recounted harrowing tales to BBC reporters who visited under the watchful eye of authorities.
Abdulqadir Abdullah Ali, a 62-year-old diabetic who suffered nerve damage during the siege due to lack of medicine, described the chaos when the RSF stormed El Fasher: "The morning the RSF came there were bullets, many bullets, and explosives going off. People were out of control [with fear], they ran out of their houses, and everyone ran in different directions, the father, the son, the daughter—running." He told BBC that RSF fighters "were shooting at the people—the elderly, the civilians, with live ammunition, they would empty their guns on them. Some of the RSF came with their cars. If they saw someone was still breathing, they drove over them."
Many who escaped El Fasher ended up in makeshift camps, with journeys marked by violence, deprivation, and loss. Mohammed Abbaker Adam, a local official from the Zamzam camp, described to BBC how he tried to make himself look older by growing a white beard, hoping for mercy. "The road here was full of death. They shot some people directly in front of us and then carried them and threw them far away. And on the road, we saw dead bodies out in the open, unburied. Some had lain there for two or three days." He added, "So many people are scattered around. We don't know where they are."
Women and children bore particular risks. One 19-year-old woman recounted how RSF fighters at a checkpoint took a girl from her group, leaving her terrified at every subsequent stop. She, her siblings, and their grandmother fled on foot, but the grandmother died on the way. The young woman recalled, "We hadn't taken enough water because we didn't know the distance was so far. We walked and walked and my grandmother passed out. I checked her pulse, but she didn't wake up, so I found a doctor in a nearby village. He came and said, 'Your grandmother has given you her soul.'"
Men of fighting age faced suspicion and violence. The woman’s 15-year-old brother described being interrogated for hours in the sun: "The RSF interrogated us for hours in the sun. They said we were soldiers—some of the older ones probably were. The RSF fighters stood over us and circled around us, whipping us and threatening us with their guns. I lost hope and told them, 'Whatever you want to do to me, do it.'" In the end, he was released after his sister pleaded that he was her only brother and their father was dead.
Other escapees told of the RSF separating men from their families, with some men killed on the spot. Abdullah Adam Mohamed, a perfume seller, described being torn from his three young daughters and hiding to avoid forced recruitment. "All night, I was thinking, how am I going to find my children again? I've lost so many people already—I was afraid I'd lose them too." He was eventually reunited with his daughters in Tur’rah before making the journey to al-Dabbah.
Even after escaping, survivors faced extortion and deprivation at RSF checkpoints. "The RSF fighters stripped us of everything we had: money, phones, even our nice clothes," Adam said. "At each stop they would make you call your relatives to transfer money to your mobile phone account before they let you move on to the next checkpoint." The United Nations estimates that less than half of the 260,000 people who lived in El Fasher before its fall have been accounted for. Aid agencies believe many did not get far—trapped by violence, detention, or the inability to pay bribes.
Reports of mass killings and sexual violence have drawn international condemnation. Adam corroborated widespread accounts of rape, saying, "They would take a woman behind a tree, or take her far from us, out of sight, so you wouldn't see with your own eyes, but you would hear her shout: 'Help me, help me.' And she would come and say, 'They raped me.'" The RSF, however, has rejected allegations of systematic abuses. Dr. Ibrahim Mukhayer, an adviser to Gen Dagalo, told BBC, "The specific allegations raised—looting, killings, sexual violence, or mistreatment of civilians—do not reflect our directives. Any RSF member proven responsible for wrongdoing will be held fully accountable." He argued that many accusations were part of a politically motivated campaign by elements within the military-led government.
Earlier in 2025, the United States determined that the RSF had committed genocide in Darfur. Yet, the Sudanese Armed Forces and their allied militias have also been accused of atrocities, including indiscriminate shelling of residential areas and targeting civilians suspected of supporting the RSF. The ongoing violence has left millions traumatized and uncertain about what the future holds.
Amid the chaos, international actors have scrambled to broker peace. The United States, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia—collectively known as the Quad—have proposed a three-month truce followed by peace talks. President Donald Trump, urged by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, pledged to support peace efforts, and his envoy, Massad Boulos, has been engaged in shuttle diplomacy. However, as of last week, neither side had accepted the latest US proposal. Gen Al Burhan initially dismissed it as the "worst" he had seen, but later welcomed Trump’s involvement and asked Sudanese authorities to draft a response.
For those displaced by the fighting, the prospect of peace seems remote. In the words of Abdulqadir Abdullah Ali, who was still seeking a tent for his family in the al-Dabbah camp, "We can live and rest." But for now, rest remains elusive for millions caught in the crossfire of Sudan’s devastating war.