Over 260,000 people, half of them children, are facing starvation in Sudan’s North Darfur region as paramilitary forces continue to block food and aid deliveries into the besieged city of El Fasher, aid organizations have warned.
More than 100 civil society groups and humanitarian agencies, including several Catholic organizations, accused the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of using starvation as a weapon of war — constructing barriers to seal off the city and prevent humanitarian access.
“We are witnessing a devastating tragedy — children in El Fasher are starving while lifesaving nutrition services are being blocked,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell.
For over 500 days, the RSF has surrounded El Fasher with 38 kilometers of sand berms, cutting off all routes for food, medicine, and aid. Witnesses describe the city as “an open-air prison,” where civilians endure shelling, disease, and hunger.
Since the siege began in April 2024, UNICEF has recorded more than 1,100 grave violations, including the killing or maiming of children, sexual violence, and forced recruitment by armed groups.
“The berms allow the RSF to continue strangling civilians,” the coalition of aid groups said in a joint statement on Oct. 2.
The same report noted that famine and cholera outbreaks are spreading rapidly, with thousands unable to flee. Those who try to escape face deadly risks. “Men and adolescent boys are being killed on the road. Leaving El Fasher is now more dangerous than staying,” survivors told aid agencies.
Sudan’s current conflict erupted in April 2023 after the collapse of an uneasy alliance between two coup leaders — General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan of the Sudanese Armed Forces and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo of the RSF.
Their rivalry, rooted in a dispute over control of the new national army, has since plunged the nation into chaos.
At least 40,000 people have been killed, and 13 million displaced. Another 25 million suffer severe food insecurity, according to UN estimates.
Fr. John Gbemboyo, of the Bishops’ Conference of Sudan and South Sudan, said both sides are pursuing total victory instead of peace.
“It is either victory or death,” he said. “There is no will for compromise, and the country is being brought to its knees.” Aid agencies have condemned what they describe as “global paralysis” in responding to the Sudan war.
“Words of condemnation will not save lives,” the October 2 statement read, urging decisive international action to stop atrocities in El Fasher and beyond.
The coalition is calling for a nationwide ceasefire, immediate humanitarian access, and binding commitments from all parties to protect civilians under international law.
“Negotiations on safe passage and aid delivery must be treated as an emergency,” the statement concluded
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