Thousands flee Sudan’s El Fasher on foot without food or water: UNICEF
UN agencies report rising civilian casualties, mass displacement, and worsening humanitarian conditions in El Fasher following the RSF's takeover.
Thousands of displaced families have walked more than 60 kilometers without food or water to escape the escalating violence in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Saturday.
“In Tawila, North Darfur, thousands of families are fleeing violence in El-Fasher, arriving exhausted, hungry & malnourished,” UNICEF said in a statement on the US social media platform X.
Abubakar Ahmed, a UNICEF nutrition specialist, said more than 6,000 people fled from El Fasher to Tawila last week alone, most of them women and children, and that displaced families continue to arrive daily.
The displaced, he said, “came in a very bad, poor condition due to the long roads” between the two cities, which stretch over 60 kilometers. Many make the journey entirely on foot, often taking four or five days.
“The displaced face major challenges along the way, with some being beaten, while others spend days without food or water,” Ahmed said. “When they arrive, really, they looked thirsty, and most of them are malnourished, even children and adults.”
According to UNICEF, many children arrived alone, separated from their families, and unaware of their relatives’ whereabouts.
Patients die due to shortages
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization’s regional director urged the protection of health facilities and the guarantee of unhindered humanitarian access. Citing a doctor at El Fasher Hospital, the official said patients were dying due to shortages of medical supplies.
Earlier on Saturday, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said it was deeply concerned for thousands of civilians trapped inside El Fasher following the city’s fall to the RSF. The humanitarian group said its teams in Tawila were preparing to respond to a mass influx of displaced people and casualties.
The mass displacement follows the RSF’s capture of El Fasher last Sunday after fierce clashes with the Sudanese army. There has been no immediate comment from the RSF regarding UNICEF’s statement.
UN experts warn of ethnic killings, atrocities in El Fasher
The UN Fact-Finding Mission on Sudan expressed grave alarm last week over escalating atrocities in El Fasher following its capture by the RSF, citing “direct and harrowing testimonies” from survivors detailing systematic attacks against civilians.
Despite limited access, the mission said early evidence points to “a deliberate pattern of ethnically targeted executions of unarmed civilians, assaults, sexual violence, widespread looting and destruction of vital infrastructure, and mass forced displacement.”
“As El Fasher burns and millions face starvation, the world must choose between silence or solidarity,” said Mohamed Chande Othman, chair of the Fact-Finding Mission.
“Since the siege of El Fasher and the surrounding camps, and following the RSF’s takeover of the city, the humanitarian crisis has deepened in real time. We must ensure that the cries of Sudan’s victims echo not into a void, but into action,” he stressed.
The mission said the fall of El-Fasher marks a devastating turning point in Sudan’s war, a city already crippled by eighteen months of siege, starvation, and relentless bombardment, now descending further into chaos.
Othman said the Human Rights Council’s recent renewal of the mission’s mandate for another year “is not just a procedural extension, it is a lifeline for accountability and a signal that the world is watching.”
