Torture, bloodshed and despair: Tens of thousands of people remain trapped in El Fasher, Sudan

From the moment Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) took over the capital of North Darfur, El Fasher — after subjecting it to a suffocating siege lasting more than 500 days — accounts of the atrocities they were feared to be committing began to follow in quick succession: cases of mass executions, sexual violence, torture, and kidnappings.

Most of the testimonies came from those who left the city and managed to reach a safe place from which to recount what they had witnessed. But, unlike what has happened in almost all the areas occupied by the rebels since the outbreak of the war against the Sudanese army in April 2023, there was no mass exodus of the population from El Fasher.

In recent months, the United Nations had estimated that around 260,000 people remained trapped in the city. And, although some 100,000 civilians escaped in the days following its fall, humanitarian groups deployed at relatively safe reception points away from El Fasher warned that the flow of arrivals was far below expectations.

This means that most civilians were unable to flee; either because they are dead, too weak, wounded, captured, or in hiding. These fears have been fueled by the fact that in the weeks and months leading up to their final assault, the RSF constructed an earthen wall that completely surrounded El Fasher, allowing them to control everything that enters and leaves the city.

“The truth is, nobody knows how many people have died or how many remain trapped,” says U.N. humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher, who recently traveled to Tawila, a town near El Fasher. “Tens of thousands of people have managed to reach Tawila, but it’s clear that many are not leaving El Fasher, which raises very alarming questions about their whereabouts.”

In recent days, EL PAÍS has spoken with a dozen displaced people from El Fasher, human rights lawyers, humanitarian workers and Sudanese government sources, to understand the situation inside the city since it was captured by paramilitaries on October 26.

Tens of thousands of people have managed to reach Tawila, but it’s clear that many are not leaving El Fasher, which raises very alarming questions about their whereabouts

Tom Fletcher, UN

The image that emerges is that of a town ravaged by looting and bloodshed, with thousands of civilians detained, at least dozens kidnapped, and evidence of widespread sexual violence and torture. Thousands more remain trapped at the mercy of paramilitaries, who are now using these civilians to promote their government and its supposed humanitarian efforts.

“Darfur is now the epicenter of human suffering. We urgently need access to El Fasher to understand why people can’t leave and what conditions they face,” demands Fletcher, who acknowledges that they have been lobbying for permission to enter the city. “Every day people remain trapped [there] is a day of unimaginable risk,” he warns.

On Monday, the commander of the Rapid Support Forces, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, announced a unilateral three-month ceasefire, but the gesture is not expected to lead to a cessation of hostilities. His statement came just hours after the Sudanese army commander, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, rejected a U.S.-backed ceasefire proposal, leading many to interpret the paramilitary leader’s announcement as an attempt to improve his international image. The rebels have announced ceasefires on several occasions since the start of the war, but have consistently violated them.

Massacres, rape and mass graves

One of the first indications of the massacres in El Fasher after its capture by the RSF came from satellite imagery. In the days following the city’s fall, the Yale Humanitarian Research Institute (HRL) identified up to 30 groups of objects piled up in various locations throughout the town that appeared to be corpses. Many were also lying near rebel vehicles, and in some cases, pools of blood could be seen around them.

One of these massacres occurred at the Saudi hospital, one of the few that continued operating under siege, where the U.N. estimated that nearly 500 people were killed. A local activist group claimed that another massacre took place at El Fasher University. And the HRL identified other possible massacres at the children’s hospital, the Red Crescent office, a military base, and near the earthen wall erected by the rebels around the city.

The HRL has also detected activities that could be related to the disposal of bodies by the Rapid Support Forces. Satellite imagery shows paramilitaries digging what appear to be several mass graves, some near sites of massacres, and several instances of burning objects, which could be corpses.

Many of those who have managed to escape the city also bear scars from this widespread violence. José Sánchez, coordinator for Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in Darfur, who was recently in Tawila, explains that they have received displaced people from El Fasher “with gunshot wounds, [showing signs of] beatings, and torture injuries,” including bruises and fractures.

Sulaima Ishaq, Sudan’s Minister of State for Human Resources and Social Welfare and director of the unit fighting violence against women and children, details that they have documented 25 cases of rape that occurred within El Fasher University, where many civilians had sought refuge, although she warns that the real number is much higher.

Ishaq emphasizes that they have evidence that the paramilitaries killed at least 300 women when they took the city, some of whom were “physically and sexually assaulted and then murdered.”

“We have been warning about the dire situation in El Fasher and what could happen ever since the siege of the city began,” laments a local activist currently in Egypt. “But, sadly, the world stood by, indifferent to the pleas and cries of the city’s inhabitants, until the great catastrophe struck.”

Disappearances, kidnappings and looting

Documenting many of the abuses committed by the Rapid Support Forces in El Fasher is proving difficult because they have imposed a communications blackout and confiscated internet and cell phone devices. “There is no way to contact people inside to find out about their situation amid the militia’s control and strict measures,” the activist notes.

A second activist from El Fasher, who claims to have spoken with contacts inside the city on two occasions, estimates that the paramilitaries have arrested at least 3,500 civilians. Some local media outlets have reported the presence of more detention centers and a higher number of arrests.

The same source, the activist in Egypt, and a third activist who fled El Fasher in the summer say that a large number of prisoners, including community leaders, journalists, and officials, have been transferred to Nyala, the capital of South Darfur and the seat of the RSF government. Some remain in Nyala’s overcrowded Degris prison.

Besides those arrested, the paramilitaries have also kidnapped dozens of people at least and demanded large ransoms from their families.

“This is a common practice among paramilitaries, including the torture of detainees to pressure families into paying ransoms,” explains Mossaad Mohamed Ali, director of the African Center for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS).

Since the complete capture of El Fasher, rebel fighters have also looted the city. The HLR has observed in satellite images the presence of trucks that could be used to transport stolen goods, and Sudanese media outlets such as Darfur24 have reported that some of the looted items, including vehicles, furniture, and construction materials, have begun to reappear in markets in Nyala.

Since the RSF took over El Fasher, the humanitarian agency they control has opened some areas of the city to distribute aid to the civilians who remain trapped. The two local activists, however, believe this is primarily an effort to produce propaganda videos to improve their image. Furthermore, satellite imagery from the month following the city’s fall shows no activity in what were seven of its main markets, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW).

“Everything the paramilitaries are currently publishing about the citizens of El Fasher is merely an attempt to whitewash their image,” the activist in Egypt believes. “They are promoting a kind of return to normalcy [in the city] with the reopening of some markets and lower prices,” she adds.

EL PAÍS contacted the spokesperson for the Rapid Support Forces to ask about the situation in El Fasher, but had not received a response at the time of publication.

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