Sudan’s El Fasher on brink of collapse as RSF siege traps thousands

Thousands of civilians remain trapped and starving in the Sudanese city of El Fasher after a 500-day siege by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a new report by humanitarian group MedGlobal has revealed.

According to the organisation, the city is on the verge of total collapse, amid ongoing shelling, hunger and disease outbreaks.

The report, compiled from interviews recorded in September, describes widespread destruction in El Fasher, with over 90 per cent of homes destroyed, damaged or looted.

Similarly, a quarter of households reported losing a family member in the last three months, while health teams found widespread malnutrition among those who managed to flee to the northern town of Al Dabbah.

"The 500-day siege of El Fasher has pushed its inhabitants to the edge of survival," said Joseph Belliveau, MedGlobal's Executive Director.

"Some of those who recently arrived in the Northern State shared what life was like in El Fasher: ubiquitous violence, destroyed homes, severe shortages of food and water, and almost no access to healthcare."

According to MedGlobal, 75 per cent of residents rarely had food or water due to the siege, while one in five children under five is acutely malnourished. Similarly, 38 per cent of pregnant and lactating women are undernourished, increasing the risk of premature and underweight births.

The RSF siege has cut off most supply routes and forced many families to move repeatedly within the city in search of safety. Three-quarters of residents have been displaced at least three times, according to MedGlobal, while 81 per cent said they never felt safe moving around.

"The destruction of homes and health infrastructure has made El Fasher uninhabitable," MedGlobal said.

Hopes that the siege might end briefly rose last month when US President Donald Trump's adviser on African affairs, Massad Boulos, announced that the US and the United Arab Emirates had brokered an agreement to allow aid into the city. However, those efforts have since collapsed, with the RSF intensifying its assault on El Fasher.

In recent weeks, the Sudanese military has conducted limited food airdrops to resupply the city's defenders, but aid groups say the deliveries fall far short of the population's needs. Families continue to shelter in trenches or underground bunkers to avoid bombardments, while reports of hunger-related deaths are rising.

According to MedGlobal, without immediate humanitarian access, the people of El Fasher face mass starvation and further civilian casualties.

"The siege has destroyed every aspect of life in the city. Without urgent intervention, El Fasher could soon disappear altogether," Belliveau said.

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