The Sudanese paramilitary group Speedy Assist Forces (RSF) stormed the besieged metropolis of el-Fasher on Friday in a battle that raged for seven hours, witnesses informed the BBC.
RSF fighters managed to seize a cattle market, a jail and a navy base whereas broadcasting movies of their members strolling round empty stockyards.
It was the primary time RSF fighters had entered the town in giant numbers because the siege of el-Fasher – an ongoing battle for management of the western Darfur metropolis – started 15 months in the past.
On Saturday morning, the military retaliated and succeeded in pushing the RSF again past el-Fasher’s limits. However Mathilde Vu, from the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), described the town as a “demise lure”.
“What we’re listening to is tales of horror and terror and weekly shelling, assaults on civilian infrastructure,” Ms Vu told the BBC Newshour programme.
“There are native volunteers – they’re actually struggling, risking their lives day by day to attempt to present a little bit little bit of meals for people who find themselves largely ravenous.”
Siddig Omar, a 65-year-old resident of el-Fasher, informed the BBC the RSF entered the town on Friday from the south and south-west.
The RSF, whose fighters have been mustering in trenches dug across the metropolis, incessantly assault el-Fasher. In response to the military, this was their 220th offensive.
However this time, throughout a battle that raged for seven hours, they managed to take management of the town’s livestock market, which has been closed for enterprise for a number of months.
From right here, they broadcast movies of their fighters strolling round empty stockyards. In addition they briefly held Shalla jail and the headquarters of the navy’s Central Reserve Forces.
On Saturday morning, the military retaliated and succeeded in pushing the RSF again past the town limits, saying it had inflicted “heavy losses” on the paramilitary group.
However Mr Omar stated RSF shelling – utilizing drones – continued all through Saturday.
“One of many shells hit a civilian automobile close to my home ensuing within the demise of 5 civilians who have been contained in the automobile,” he stated.
Sudan plunged right into a civil conflict in April 2023 after a vicious battle for energy broke out between its military and the RSF.
It has led to a famine and claims of a genocide within the western Darfur area.
Greater than 150,000 individuals have died within the battle throughout the nation, and about 12 million have fled their properties in what the United Nations has known as the world’s largest humanitarian disaster.
El-Fasher is the one metropolis in Darfur now managed by the navy. However a communications blackout makes it troublesome to substantiate info from the besieged metropolis, as solely these with satellite tv for pc web connections are contactable.
The environment RSF offensive adopted weeks of artillery and drone assaults. The group lately began utilizing giant drone plane.
The military accuses the United Arab Emirates (UAE) of funding the RSF, an allegation the oil-rich Gulf state denies.
This weekend’s assault comes three months after the RSF overran Zamzam camp on the outskirts of el-Fasher. It had been the most important displacement camp within the nation and lots of of its residents both escaped into el-Fashir or tried to make it to Tawila, 60km (about 40 miles) away.
Ms Vu, NRC’s advocacy supervisor in Sudan, stated the crew in Tawila has continued to listen to horrific tales as individuals desperately attempt to discover security.
“Individuals fleeing at night time by foot, on donkeys – attempting to flee armed males concentrating on them, perhaps raping them,” she stated.
“We’re getting individuals arriving into Tawila who’re thirsty, who have not eaten for weeks.”
Practically 379,000 individuals have now fled to Tawila, the place they’re dealing with an outbreak of cholera and anticipated heavy rain is more likely to destroy makeshift shelters.
This week, residents of el-Fasher informed the BBC Arabic’s emergency radio programme extra about their dire state of affairs.
“Proper now, we’re struggling deeply, and everybody round us is dealing with the identical hardship,” one man stated.
“There isn’t any bread, no meals, and no work to be discovered. Even when you have cash, there’s nothing out there within the markets to purchase.
“When somebody will get sick, we will not discover any medication or therapy.
“There are not any medicines in hospitals. The state of affairs right here is actually horrible.”
One other man stated till lately, residents had been counting on one thing known as “ombaz”, a meals waste left over after urgent oil from peanut shells.
“We’re in a really crucial state of affairs,” he stated.
“Even ombaz is now not out there, because the peanut factories have stopped working.
“We’re calling out for assist – please, we urgently want help.”
Ms Vu bemoaned the worldwide neighborhood’s apathy when it got here to partaking with the opponents and their backers.
“The funding is totally reducing and the consequence is you could see it on the bottom,” she stated.
“Individuals [in el-Fasher] simply depend on the solidarity of others.
“If they’ve a little bit little bit of meals, they are going to be sharing it amongst themselves.”
Final week, the Worldwide Felony Courtroom (ICC) stated there have been “reasonable grounds” to believe war crimes and crimes against humanity are being committed in Darfur.
Allegations of conflict crimes have endured all through the previous two years, and in January 2025 the US decided that the RSF and allied militias had dedicated a genocide in opposition to the area’s non-Arab inhabitants.