Sudan's paramilitary RSF 'seizes new ground' in besieged city
El Fasher, Sudan (PANA) - Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) said on Monday they have “seized new ground” in El Fasher, the last stronghold of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) in the Darfur region, as reports speak of “deadly artillery shelling” on a camp for displaced people.
Sudanese news outlet, Sudan Tribune, quoted a statement on RSF's Telegram channel saying the paramilitary group had advanced in several districts of the North Darfur capital.
According to Sudan Tribune, a spokesperson, in a video message, said RSF fighters have captured the Dimsilk and Ziyadia neighbourhoods and the central Mellit bus station.
The RSF have also “seized military equipment” from the Sudanese army and allied armed movements.
The news outlet reported that the emergency room for the Abu Shouk camp for the displaced said artillery shelling by the RSF on Monday killed four people and wounded three. It said two barrages of heavy artillery hit the city centre and the camp during the day.
El Fasher, the last of Darfur’s five state capitals not under RSF control, has been besieged by the group since May 2024, worsening an already severe humanitarian crisis.
The RSF, which has held the other four Darfur capitals since late 2023, has recently stepped up its offensive on El Fasher as it seeks to consolidate its control over the vast western region.
Hundreds of thousands of civilians are trapped in El Fasher as the siege on the city tightens, UN chief António Guterres warned last week, saying he is "appalled" by the continued attacks by the RSF against the city.
The civil war that began in April 2023 pits the RSF against the SAF and has since ravaged the country, particularly the Darfur region.
Last week, a senior UN humanitarian official, returning from a visit to Sudan, painted an apocalyptic picture of the situation.
Edem Wosornu described a country on its knees, where famine and cholera threaten millions of lives.
"The Secretary-General is alarmed by the significant risks of serious violations of international humanitarian law as well as violations and abuses of international human rights law, including ethnically motivated," his spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric, said.
The UN chief said supplies are pre-positioned nearby, but efforts by the United Nations and its partners to deliver them to El Fasher continue to be hampered. In recent months, humanitarian personnel and goods have been repeatedly attacked in North Darfur.
“The Secretary-General calls for an immediate ceasefire in and around the El Fasher region. He stresses the need to take immediate steps to protect civilians and allow the safe, unhindered and sustained delivery of humanitarian assistance to the region, as well as to allow any civilians who wish to voluntarily leave the area to do so safely,” said Mr. Dujarric.
All these appeals have, however, fallen on deaf ear, as despite the rejection and condemnation by the international community of the declaration by RSF of a rival administration in parts of the East African country it controls, it has gone ahead to install a parallel government.
The president and members of the Presidential Council of the parallel government were sworn into office last Saturday. The Council is headed by RSF commander, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.
The step worsens the volatile situation in the country where two years of a bitter war between SAF and the RSF has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced millions, created one of the world's biggest humanitarian crises and destroyed the country's infrastructure.
The UN Security Council in rejecting the RSF's declaration last month of a rival administration warned that it threatened the country’s unity and risked worsening the brutal conflict between the militia and forces of the military government.
It also warned that the step posed “a direct threat to Sudan’s territorial integrity” and could fragment the country, fuel the fighting, and deepen an already dire humanitarian crisis.
-0- PANA MA 2Sept2025
