Escalating violence in El Fasher, North Darfur, has displaced thousands and left many trapped without access to food, healthcare, or safety. The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have reportedly entered the city, intensifying fear among civilians already enduring 500 days of siege. An estimated 36,000 people have fled in recent days, facing serious protection risks including extortion, arbitrary arrests, looting, and sexual violence. Additional displacement is expected across North Darfur and into Chad.
The Rapid Support Force’s takeover of El Fasher has reportedly triggered a wave of atrocities, with credible reports of ethnically targeted violence, extrajudicial killings, and executions. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk reported receiving accounts of “summary executions of civilians attempting to flee, with indications of ethnic targeting and killings of individuals no longer participating in hostilities”. Satellite imagery from Yale’s Humanitarian Research Lab (cited by the UN Human Rights Office) appears to confirm mass killings.
Entire neighbourhoods have been destroyed, hospitals reduced to rubble, and humanitarian access cut off. On 29 October, an attack on Saudi Maternity Hospital reportedly killed 460 patients and companions, an act condemned by WHO.
Thousands of Sudanese civilians are reportedly fleeing toward Chad.
UNHCR RESPONSE
In Tawila, UNHCR and partners continue to provide life-saving assistance including shelter, basic necessities, financial aid, and counseling at multi-purpose community centers.
Meanwhile, a joint UN convoy carrying humanitarian assistance from UNHCR, UNICEF, and WFP has reached Dilling and Kadugli in South Kordofan, delivering urgently needed supplies to families affected by months of siege and dwindling resources. This marks the first major joint delivery to these areas since the conflict began, reaching tens of thousands.
The Sudan crisis has triggered the largest displacement and protection emergency in the world today. Over 14 million people have been forced to flee since April 2023, with 12 million remaining displaced. As of mid-2025, some 4 million refugees, asylum-seekers and returnees have crossed borders into the Central African Republic (CAR), Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia, Libya, South Sudan, and Uganda. This is not only a Sudanese crisis; it is a regional emergency with global implications.
The ripple effects are being felt across an already fragile region, placing enormous strain on host communities, local services, and humanitarian operations, while needs continue to grow.
Sudan continues to face a humanitarian crisis of epic proportions.
