Sudan medical group says 20 doctors detained in El Fasher following RSF takeover

Sudan medical group says 20 doctors detained in El Fasher following RSF takeover

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The doctors, including four women, have not been seen or heard from since the RSF seized El Fasher in October 2025, with their fate remaining unknown.

At least 20 doctors are missing and believed detained in El Fasher in Sudan’s North Darfur state following the takeover of the city by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) last year, a local medical aid group has reported.
According to the Sudan Doctors Network, the doctors, including four women, have not been seen or heard from since the RSF seized El Fasher in October 2025, with their fate remaining unknown.
“The RSF should reveal the fate of those detained in El Fasher and allow health personnel to perform their duties away from targeting and violations,” the group said in a statement.

According to the UN Human Rights Office, more than 6,000 people were killed in the first three days of the RSF’s takeover of El Fasher. At least 4,400 people died within the besieged city, according to the UN agency, while more than 1,600 others were killed along escape routes as civilians tried to flee. The overall death toll from the week-long assault is likely much higher.

The UN agency also documented widespread atrocities by RSF fighters and allied Arab militias during the takeover, including mass killings, summary executions, sexual violence such as rape and gang rape, abductions for ransom, torture, enforced disappearances, and the recruitment and use of children in hostilities.

Many attacks, the UN noted, specifically targeted civilians based on ethnicity or perceived affiliation, particularly non-Arab communities like the Zaghawa.

Sudan’s war, which began in April 2023, has left health workers operating in extreme conditions marked by shelling, sieges, clashes and severe shortages of medical supplies, according to the network.

North Darfur alone has seen the killing of at least 25 medical personnel between April 2023 and October 2025, the group said, in the period leading up to the RSF’s takeover of El Fasher. The victims included doctors, pharmacists and other health workers, with deaths attributed to shootings, drone strikes, torture, and assassinations.

“The network confirms that the loss of these personnel represents a major blow to the health sector in North Darfur and is an extension of the list of medical personnel victims since the war began in April 2023, which has exceeded 235 medical personnel between killed and missing,” the group said.
“The network considers the protection of medical field workers essential to enable medical personnel to continue providing their services in conflict zones.”

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