People displaced from El Fasher and other conflict-affected areas are settled in the newly established El-Afadh camp in Al Dabbah, in Sudan’s Northern State, on Nov. 09, 2025. (AA Photo)
By Anadolu Agency
November 15, 2025 02:42 AM GMT+03:00
The U.N. human rights chief on Friday issued a stark warning about rapidly escalating atrocities in and around el-Fasher, the capital of Sudan’s North Darfur, urging immediate international action to protect civilians trapped by months of fighting.
Widespread starvation and killings
Volker Turk told a special session of the Human Rights Council that U.N. teams have documented “strangulation, starvation, mass killings, widespread sexual violence and forced displacement.”
Civilians, he said, have been reduced to eating leaves, animal feed and peanut shells as armed groups encircle the city.
He accused both the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of blocking humanitarian aid, attacking medical facilities and targeting critical infrastructure.
Sudanese Students from schools in the East Nile region of the capital, hold up the Sudan flag, during a protest against violations committed by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) against the people of El- Fasher, in Khartoum, Sudan on Nov. 3, 2025. (AFP Photo)
Nearly 100,000 displaced
The U.N. migration agency reported that more than 99,000 people have fled el-Fasher and nearby villages since Oct. 26, warning that insecurity and blocked roads are hampering movement and emergency relief.
U.N. Special Adviser Adama Dieng said Sudan is facing a “human rights and humanitarian catastrophe,” with communities subjected to executions, torture, abductions and sexual violence.
He warned that rising hate speech and ethnically motivated attacks could fuel further atrocities.
U.N. aid chief Tom Fletcher, visiting Sudan this week, described the violence as “brutal and inhumane,” urging authorities to allow life-saving assistance.
Conflict in Darfur intensifies
The RSF seized el-Fasher last month and is accused of carrying out massacres and forced expulsions.
The group now controls all five Darfur states, while the army holds most of the remaining 13 states as the war, which began in April 2023, continues to displace millions.
November 15, 2025 02:42 AM GMT+03:00
