Civilians' lives must be spared in El Fasher, Sudan’s North Darfur capital, and they must be allowed to flee to safer areas – especially following two years of ethnic-based violence and large-scale massacres, Médecins Sans Frontières(MSF) pleads after Rapid Support Forces (RSF) fighters took control of the city. MSF is alarmed that the massacres committed when the RSF and its allies took Zamzam camp near El Fasher in April 2024 could happen again.
While MSF was forced to leave El Fasher in August 2024, our medical teams are currently working 60 kilometers away in Tawila. There, we admitted dozens of patients coming from El Fasher to the overwhelmed town’s hospital earlier today (27 October). During the night of 26 to 27 October, around 1,000 people from El Fasher arrived by truck at the entrance of Tawila where we set up a health post to provide emergency care and refer patients in the most critical condition directly to the hospital. So far today, about 300 people were treated at the health post and 130 sent to the emergency room of the hospital, including 15 requiring lifesaving surgery.
For now, many more people appear to remain trapped in and around El Fasher and we stand ready to respond to further mass influx of displaced and injured people in Tawila.
Last week, over 1,300 people fleeing El Fasher arrived by truck in Tawila on 18-19 October adding to the large numbers of forcibly displaced persons already in Tawila. Amongst these new arrivals, MSF screened 165 children under five years old and found that 75% were acutely malnourished, including 26% severely.
This shocking rate is a testament to the horror unfolding in El Fasher, where famine has been spreading as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been attacking and besieging the area for more than 500 days, blocking food and aid from reaching the starving people at all costs. With soaring food prices, community kitchens shutting down, shelled and depleted markets and humanitarian aid choked off, people have had almost no access to food.
