El Fasher: A worsening humanitarian tragedy... and a silent international community
02 November, 2025
Portsudan (Sudanow Magazine) Social media platforms circulated horrific footage, filmed by members of the Rapid Support Forces Militia themselves, after they entered El Fasher, North Darfur, specifically at the Saudi Hospital. There, they executed patients and their companions in a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law. The footage showed bodies lying on the ground, while militia members boasted about their actions as if they had accomplished a military operation. This was indiscriminate killing, a systematic and premeditated act within a series of massacres perpetrated by the RSF militia across Sudan.
The Sudanese Doctors Network stated that the RSF militia deliberately executed all patients in hospitals in El Fasher, North Darfur, in western Sudan. In a statement, they added: "In a heinous crime that violates all humanitarian laws and divine religions, Rapid Support Forces executed patients and the wounded inside El Fasher hospitals, and cold-bloodedly killed everyone they found inside the Saudi Hospital, including patients and their companions," without specifying the number.
The Independent Medical Network warned that "hospitals in El Fasher have been turned into human slaughterhouses at the hands of the Rapid Support Forces, who make no distinction between combatant and patient, or between child and doctor."
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization expressed its deep shock and strong condemnation of reports indicating that more than 460 patients and their companions were killed at the Saudi Maternity Hospital in El Fasher, Sudan, following recent attacks and kidnappings targeting healthcare workers.
Medical and military entities announced that they had lost contact with a number of doctors and volunteers, and that others had been kidnapped in El Fasher after the Rapid Support Forces militia entered the city. The militia demanded ransoms of millions of Sudanese pounds from the families of the kidnapped individuals. Some organizations also reported a complete loss of contact with their staff.
For its part, the Sudanese Doctors Network announced in a statement that a force from the Rapid Support Forces militia had kidnapped six medical personnel in El Fasher, including four doctors, a pharmacist, and a nurse, who had continued to provide services to patients and the wounded throughout the siege. The network stated that the kidnappers extorted the families of the abducted doctors, demanding a ransom of 100 million Sudanese pounds for each doctor's release. The network held the Al-Daqlo terrorist militias fully responsible for the lives and safety of the kidnapped medical personnel, adding that this constitutes an organized criminal act aimed at dismantling what remains of the healthcare system in Darfur and intimidating humanitarian workers. It issued an urgent appeal to the World Health Organization and all international medical and human rights organizations to intervene immediately and exert maximum pressure on the RSF to release the doctors immediately and hold those responsible for this crime, which constitutes a blatant violation of international humanitarian law, accountable.
In a related development, the Resistance Committees Coordination in El Fasher announced in a statement that a number of volunteers working in the city's soup kitchens had managed to reach safe locations, while the fate of most of the other volunteers, doctors, and nurses remains unknown. The statement indicated that the majority of the remaining civilians in the city have been killed, while the fate of the rest is unknown; there is no trace of them, and their whereabouts are unknown, even to the members of the Coordination itself.
The Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, condemned today the "atrocities" and "war crimes" reported from the Sudanese city of El Fasher. In a statement released via the X platform, Youssouf expressed "grave concern about the escalating violence and reported atrocities" from the city, while also condemning "alleged war crimes and the killing of civilians targeting ethnic groups."
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) announced on Monday that it had completely lost contact with its medical team at El Fasher Women's and Maternity Hospital, noting that it was the last functioning hospital in the city. Al-Daqlo terrorist militias fighters released videos yesterday and today showing them shooting at prisoners and civilians attempting to flee the city. Other videos showed the fighters assaulting Sudanese Red Crescent Society staff in El Fasher after storming their headquarters. RSF soldiers were seen beating the staff with sticks, accusing them of being military personnel, and ordering them to stand and walk as a form of military pronouncement.
UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric had previously explained that volunteers with aid organizations face increasing risks, including arbitrary arrests and harassment, noting incidents of violence against aid workers in Khartoum and the states of East and North Darfur.
Dujarric stated that these attacks on aid workers and bureaucratic obstacles continue to severely impede the delivery of humanitarian assistance to those in dire need.
The UN spokesperson reiterated his call for a cessation of hostilities, the protection of civilians, unimpeded humanitarian access, and increased international funding to sustain the life-saving operation across Sudan.
Regarding attacks on journalists, Sudanese media outlets confirmed the arrest of journalist Muammar Ibrahim by the Rapid Support Forces. Calls for his immediate release were issued, with those responsible being referred to as his "abductors" demanding his immediate release.
Ibrahim appeared in a video filmed at night with a group of armed men, in which he said he had tried to leave El Fasher but was arrested before he could. He added that he was in "safe hands," appealing to all parties to contact him and emphasizing that he is a neutral journalist with no connection to the Sudanese army. He also noted that he had worked as a freelance journalist for Al Jazeera Mubasher in the past.
The Sudanese Journalists Syndicate said in a statement that journalist and syndicate member Muammar Ibrahim was arrested "following the Rapid Support Forces militia's takeover of the 6th Infantry Division headquarters in El Fasher."
In this context, the syndicate expressed its deep concern over the journalist's arrest, stating that it holds the Rapid Support Forces fully responsible for his safety and demanding his immediate and unconditional release. A number of activists launched a campaign calling for Muammar's release and holding the Rapid Support Forces responsible for his safety.
Meanwhile, in the city of Bara in North Kordofan State, the Rapid Support Forces militia continued its attacks on employees of voluntary organizations. The Sudanese Red Crescent Society announced that it had confirmed the deaths of five of its volunteers. In the city of Bara, one volunteer was killed, while the fate of three others remains unknown, following the circulation of a video showing the torture and beating of several members of the Red Crescent team in the city, in a scene the organization described as "a disgrace to humanity."
In a statement, the organization said that the volunteers targeted were on an official mission as part of a food distribution team (at soup kitchens) in the city of Bara. They were carrying official identification cards and Red Crescent emblems, which are supposed to guarantee their full protection while performing their humanitarian duties.
The organization emphasized that what happened constitutes a flagrant violation of humanitarian principles and the rules stipulated in the Geneva Conventions, which obligate parties to the conflict to respect and protect humanitarian workers.
In its statement, the organization called on all national and international bodies to conduct an urgent investigation into these events and to ensure respect for the Red Crescent emblem and the non-targeting of volunteers and humanitarian workers.
The Secretary-General of the Sudanese Red Crescent Society, Professor Aida Elsayed Abdallah, expressed her profound shock at what she described as the "horrific behavior" that led to the deaths of several of the organization's volunteers, noting that the organization is following the situation in the cities of Bara and Bara with grave concern. El Fasher in North Darfur and Bara in North Kordofan.
The organization also expressed concern about the loss of contact with its team in El Fasher, who were working inside the maternity hospital, and appealed for the Red Crescent teams to be enabled to carry out their humanitarian duties in a safe environment that ensures their safety.
The grave violations and horrific crimes committed against civilians and medical personnel in El Fasher, especially after the city fell under the control of the terrorist militias of the Dagalo family, and the documentation of these massacres by themselves, reflect the scale of the humanitarian tragedy that worsens daily in the absence of international accountability. These bloody events not only pose a direct threat to the lives of innocent people but also represent a severe blow to the healthcare system and humanitarian efforts in Darfur.
The continuation of this situation without decisive intervention from the international community by designating the disbanded Rapid Support Forces militias as a terrorist organization opens the door to further atrocities and presents humanity with a true test in the face of organized crime. International human rights organization and medical organizations must act immediately to stop these violations, save the remaining lives, and hold the perpetrators accountable under international humanitarian law.
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