United Nations Secretary General António Guterres has expressed dismay at “the rapidly deteriorating situation” in El Fasher, the capital of Sudan’s North Darfur State.
Guterres’ spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said in a statement on Saturday that civilians continue to bear the brunt of the devastating conflict raging in the country.
The statement came a day after at least 70 people were killed when a mosque was attacked in the besieged city, the last remaining capital controlled by the Sudanese Armed Forces.
The army said the attack had been carried out by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which have been fighting the military for power of the country since April 2023.
“With El Fasher having been under a tightening siege by the Rapid Support Forces for more than 500 days, attacks affecting civilians have further intensified in recent weeks, with the majority of the residents of the Abu Shouk displacement camp reportedly having been forced to flee due to relentless shelling and raids,” Dujarric said.
“The fighting must stop now.”
In a special report released on Thursday, the Yale School of Public Health’s Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL) said that El Fasher appears to be falling to the RSF and that the group likely controls the Abu Shouk camp for internally displaced people.
It said that it made its assessment based on the fact that RSF is using advanced weaponry and that the military does not have sufficient forces and supplies to defend the city.
“The results of RSF’s capture and control of Abu Shouk IDP Camp and encirclement of El Fasher have already proven catastrophic for civilians,” the report read.
