In besieged Sudan city, civilians face death if they try to escape

In January 2024, Ahmed Abubakr Imam picked up a firearm to support his community.

The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) had conscionable captured 4 of the 5 provinces successful Sudan’s sprawling occidental portion of Darfur – South, East, Central and West – successful a lightning onslaught arsenic it precocious successful its warfare against the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and its allies.

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It was present threatening to seizure North Darfur, leaving thousands of radical similar Imam terrified.

He knew that the mostly nomadic – often referred to arsenic “Arab” – RSF was notorious for abducting and raping women and girls and extrajudicially sidesplitting men and boys from predominantly sedentary “non-Arab” communities.

Like thousands of non-Arabs successful North Darfur, Imam joined the Popular Resistance, which are neighbourhood defence groups backed by the SAF.

“The RSF militia intelligibly doesn’t separate betwixt civilians and fighters,” the 27-year-old told Al Jazeera.

Nowhere to go

Since an all-out civilian warfare erupted betwixt the SAF and the RSF successful April 2023, the second has astir consolidated power implicit its stronghold successful Darfur.

Both sides person committed sedate abuses, yet the RSF is implicated successful further atrocities specified arsenic genocide and systematic intersexual violence, according to United Nations experts and section and planetary monitors.

In April 2024, the RSF imposed a crippling siege connected North Darfur’s superior el-Fasher, wherever immoderate 260,000 radical are languishing and withering distant from hunger.

Many women, children, and immoderate men person been capable to flight to adjacent Tawila, a municipality astir 45 miles (70 kilometres) east, which is dealing with its ain catastrophic cholera epidemic.

On the road, those escaping el-Fasher are forced to wage the equivalent of $300 each to RSF fighters and manus implicit their jewellery and belongings.

However, men person often been detained and killed aft being suspected by the RSF of being fighters, portion women and children person been abducted, residents say.

These risks person compelled hundreds of thousands of radical to enactment successful el-Fasher until the RSF is repelled oregon the metropolis falls.

“If the militia RSF didn’t people civilians, past each the civilians would person near el-Fasher by now,” Imam told Al Jazeera.

Sudanese fighters from a Rapid Support Forces unit, successful the East Nile province, Sudan, connected June 22, 2019 [Hussein Malla/AP]

Some, similar Imam, are connected the beforehand lines, portion others are trying to stitchery capable nutrient and supplies to provender their starving communities oregon papers atrocities for the extracurricular world.

Imam is the oldest of respective brothers and sisters, the youngest of whom is conscionable 3 years old. He fears they could each beryllium raped oregon killed if the RSF reaches them.

“I’m the oldest sibling … truthful I person a work to support my family,” helium said.

Al Jazeera sent written questions to the RSF’s property office, asking for the radical to remark connected accusations that it targets civilians trying to flight el-Fasher. The RSF did not respond earlier publication.

‘Kill box’

According to the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab, which is utilizing outer imagery to show developments successful North Darfur, the RSF is present making it astir intolerable for radical to flight the city, adjacent if they privation to.

On August 28, the probe laboratory revealed that the RSF has built astir 31 kilometres (19 miles) of godforsaken berms (barriers) astir el-Fasher.

About 22 kilometres (13.6 miles) signifier a semicircle from the westbound to the northbound of the metropolis and an further 9 kilometres (9 miles) impede immoderate effort to flight east.

“With these berms, RSF is creating a literal termination container astir El-Fasher,” the Yale study said.

Mohamed Zakaria, a writer successful el-Fasher, said the godforsaken berms basal astir 3 metres high.

He said that cipher is capable to ascent the walls unless they are pulled up, and that each different roads retired of el-Fasher person been blocked.

On apical of that, helium stressed that civilians successful Abu Shouk displacement camp, northwest of el-Fasher, are deciding whether to enactment and look a imaginable RSF attack, oregon escape, knowing the dangers.

Local monitors told Al Jazeera that astir 80 percent of the camp’s astir 190,000 radical person already fled, either to el-Fasher and surrounding villages oregon to Tawila.

Abu Shouk was built to accommodate radical fleeing the state-backed “Arab” Janjaweed militias, which terrorised non-Arab communities during the archetypal Darfur warfare successful 2003.  Many of these militias were aboriginal repackaged into the RSF.

On August 22, the United Nations accused the RSF of summarily executing 16 men from Abu Shouk, arsenic portion of a wider onslaught that killed dozens of people.

The ongoing battle connected Abu Shouk follows the RSF’s onslaught connected Zamzam camp, southbound of el-Fasher, successful April, which uprooted fractional a cardinal radical and killed much than a thousand.

“Right now, determination is [artillery] shelling targeting Abu Shouk from each absorption …they are besides carrying retired incursions and kidnapping campaigns,” Zakaria warned.

“The aforesaid script that occurred successful Zamzam is occurring successful Abu Shouk,” helium told Al Jazeera.

Starvation

The RSF’s chokehold siege connected el-Fasher is besides exacerbating the man-made starvation successful the city, according to UN agencies and section alleviation volunteers.

According to the UN, nutrient stocks are astir wholly depleted and nutrient convoys person precocious been attacked by drones.

Families typically past connected histrion leaves oregon an carnal provender known locally arsenic “ambaz”, produced by pressing the residue of peanut and sunflower seeds into a slurry for consumption.

Yet adjacent ambaz is opening to tally out, warns Magdy Yousef, a nonmigratory of el-Fasher and a subordinate of the Emergency Response Rooms (ERRs), grassroots initiatives providing work provisions to beleaguered civilians.

Houda Ali Mohammed, 32, a displaced Sudanese parent of four, prepares nutrient astatine a campy structure amid the ongoing struggle betwixt the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese army, successful Tawila, North Darfur, Sudan, connected July 30, 2025 [Mohamed Jamal/Reuters]

Yousef told Al Jazeera that ERRs volunteers are trying to acquisition food, tally assemblage kitchens and supply medicine to assistance immoderate of the astir susceptible radical successful the city. At best, astir radical are surviving connected a azygous repast a day.

“There are lone 5 assemblage kitchens remaining successful el-Fasher… each 1 provides a repast to conscionable 3,000 people,” Yousef said.

“We person reached the constituent of famine,” helium added.

Due to the dire starvation successful el-Fasher, Yousef said immoderate families –  children, women and the aged – are risking their lives to scope Tawila each day.

He accepted that it’s excessively unsafe for men of warring age, specified arsenic himself, to effort to escape.

“The RSF is targeting each young men leaving the city, truthful astir are staying put, contempt the starvation and hunger [in el-Fasher],” Yousef said.

“Maybe their families tin effort to leave, but it’s acold excessively unsafe for young men.”