The paramilitary force fighting since 2023 to take over Sudan has ousted the army from its last stronghold in the western Darfur region in fierce fighting, military officials and aid groups said on Monday, October 27. Medical groups reported dozens of civilians killed in the violence.
The army’s withdrawal from the city of El-Fasher left over a quarter-million people − half of them children − under the control of the Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, and aid groups reported chaotic scenes Monday including battles between RSF and departing troops and their remaining allies. The UN accused the RSF of executing civilians.
The fall of El-Fasher to the RSF could herald another split of Sudan, more than a decade after South Sudan’s creation. The latest war started in April 2023 when tension between the military and RSF exploded into fighting in the capital, Khartoum, and elsewhere in the northeastern African country.
Footage posted on social media since Sunday shows RSF fighters celebrating in and around the former army base in El-Fasher. According to one video, the paramilitary’s deputy commander, Abdulrahim Dagalo, calls on his fighters not to loot or target civilians.
Other footage shows RSF fighters shooting and beating people as they attempt to flee. Many were shown detained. RSF fighters were heard shouting «falangayat» at detainees − a racist term used to refer to African tribes in Darfur as slaves. Outraged Sudanese took to social media to denounce the attacks.
Military officials confirmed that troops had vacated the base on Sunday and retreated to another defense line under heavy RSF shelling and artillery. By late Monday, military chief General Abdel-Fattah Burhan, said military officers decided to withdraw from the city entirely in hopes of sparing the civilian population from further violence.
The army retreated because of «the systemic destruction, and the systemic killing of civilians» by the RSF, he said in a televised speech, adding that the army hoped to «spare the citizens and the rest of the city from destruction.»
«We are determined to avenge what happened to our people in El-Fasher,» he said. «We, as the Sudanese people, will hold these criminals accountable.»
The UN cites atrocities in El-Fasher
Resistance Committees in El-Fasher, a grassroots group tracking the war, reported earlier Monday that fighting was raging around the army base’s airfield, as well as on the western side of the city. The group said the Sudanese troops had no visible air support in El-Fasher to try and fend off RSF attacks.
The UN Human Rights Office in a statement said RSF fighters reportedly carried out atrocities in El-Fasher, including «summary executions» of civilians trying to flee their attacks, «with indications of ethnic motivations for killings.»
Volker Türk, the UN high commissioner for human rights, said the «risk of further large-scale, ethnically motivated violations and atrocities in El-Fasher is mounting by the day.»
Satellite images analyzed by The Associated Press showed the headquarters of the military’s 6th Division, with the roofs of multiple buildings damaged. The layout of the headquarters corresponded to details seen in footage released by the RSF, showing their fighters gathering around one bullet-scarred building, heralding their capture of the city.
