Latest news with #AlFashir
SBS Australia
05-08-2025
- General
- SBS Australia
Inside Sudan's besieged city of Al-Fashir as famine takes hold
Listen to Australian and world news, and follow trending topics with SBS News Podcasts . Women praying -singing in Arabic A prayer for food in Sudan's besieged city of Al-Fashir. The city has been cut off from the world by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces for more than 15 months. Mohamed Dodah, a refugee and Zaghawa community leader, says daily battles have wreaked havoc on the capital of the North Darfur region. "One and a half million civilians are suffering from the ravages of artillery and drone shelling, as well as shrapnel from the fighting on the outskirts of the city." But it's not the fighting that has most civilians in the city concerned. "Frankly, the citizens are suffering extremely harshly, especially in Autumn. These houses do not provide shelter or cover. These children are not eating, even the main meal is not available." The United Nations says half of Sudan's 50 million population is facing acute hunger after more than two years of civil war between R-S-F militants and the Sudanese army. In the western region of Darfur the U-N has declared famine in 11 locations, with UNICEF estimating more than 330,000 people are facing malnutrition in the city of Al-Fashir alone due to a total blockade of aid by R-S-F militants. Nathaniel Raymond, a human rights investigator who leads the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab, has worked with the U-N to better understand the hunger crisis. " In Gaza, people have been without aid delivery for three months. In the case of Al-Fashir, they have been in a state of humanitarian siege now since the spring of 2024 so over a year. The famine review committee of the United Nations declared an IPC five event, which is the highest degree of famine, which our team at the Humanitarian Research Lab at Yale assisted them in declaring the situation." UN spokesman Farhan Haq says civilians in Al-Fashir are at a breaking point. "Local sources say people are dying from hunger and malnutrition. Community-run kitchens have shut down due to lack of food stocks, and some residents have reportedly resorted to consuming animal feed." Mohamed Dodah says peanut oil waste, typically used for pet feed, is the primary source of food in Al-Fashir and locals are allowed only one meal a day. "If you got eat breakfast, you'll wait for next day to eat another meal even if breakfast or lunch. They're suffering right now. They're dying daily." As a child, Mohamed's village was destroyed by Arab militias who targeted his tribe, the Zaghawa people, along with the Masalit and Fur tribes. These militias later became the Rapid Support Forces. In April, the RSF raided Mohamed's home in the Zamzam displacement camp, where he says they set fire to the camp and even killed foreign aid workers. "The entire Relief International staff had been wiped out, including the camp director and nine other employees. I found their bodies stacked, each with a bullet wound to the head." Mohamed fled to the last city in Darfur not under RSF control - Al-Fashir. While both the military and the RSF have been accused of war crimes in the current conflict, some human rights groups as well as the United States say the paramilitary group has committed genocide in Darfur - a claim the militia denies. Nathaniel Raymond's team at Yale have monitored alleged war crimes in Darfur using ultra high resolution satellites and sensors provided by NASA and the European Space Agency. "It's very easy to make assessments due to the remote sensing data. We monitor cemeteries and Al-Fashir and over the past year those cemeteries have been growing exponentially. We can watch them bury their loved ones from space. Additionally, we can see damage to feeding centres, hospitals, mosques, and other critical humanitarian infrastructure. We are watching Al-Fashir be murdered from 450 miles above the Earth's service." Algaly Abdelrasoul lives in Sydney but his uncle, aunt and extended family are trapped in the city. He's only able to get through to his uncle on occasion, hearing glimpses of the violence. "So basically he says this one's doing well. This one has passed away. This one's wounded. This one is gone somewhere. This one we haven't spoken to, we don't know where they are. This is kind of the norm. I say tell me more. What is happening? How are you feeling? He just tells me, you know what, we just survived another day. He sees it as I just need to survive." When asked if it's possible for his uncle to escape the starved city, which is surrounded by the RSF, he says there's no safe way out of Al-Fashir. "Men, you can't. Women and kids, if they show mercy and that's a risk. They might kill you, they might rape you. If they feel like letting you go, if you're lucky enough, you might be able to escape to a surroundings town. It's a very delicate situation. Because if you stay in, if you're not being killed by the RSF, you're dying of hunger, starvation, lack of medical assistance is also a big issue. They're just holding on for dear life." But the Sudanese Armed Forces and the civilians within the city may not be able to hold out for much longer. "At this point, it's a matter of time unless there's a major change in SAF's military strength. Most of the city has been reduced to rubble. By our calculations, more than 40 per cent of the city has been destroyed by RSF bombardment and attacks and Sudan, armed forces airstrikes and artillery bombardment to try to target the rapid support forces. The civilians have been caught in the crossfire at this point. There is no food in the city." Mohamed Dodah believes he will be killed, or at a minimum held hostage, if the city falls. "If they control Al-Fashir, there will be killing and raping and kidnapping. Firstly, they will kill the leaders. They will catch me, put me in a prison and - if not kill me - you will need money to free me." And after peace talks between regional powers broke down in Washington last week, the desperate civilians of Al-Fashir are begging the world to intervene and finally break the 15-month siege. "If you don't rescue us, I swear by God, no treatment or hospitals are available, only death. We have nothing left for us but death."
Arab News
04-08-2025
- General
- Arab News
Hunger mounts, cemeteries grow in Sudan's besieged Al-Fashir
Hundreds of thousands of people under siege in the Sudanese army's last holdout in the western Darfur region are running out of food and coming under constant artillery and drone barrages, while those who flee risk cholera and violent attacks. Al-Fashir, the capital of North Darfur state, is the biggest remaining frontline in the region between Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), under fire at a pivotal point in a civil war now well into its third year. 'The RSF's artillery and drones are shelling Al-Fashir morning and night,' one resident told Reuters. Electricity was completely shut down, bakeries were closed and medical supplies scarce, he added. 'The number of people dying has increased every day and the cemeteries are expanding,' he said. The war between the Sudanese army and the RSF erupted in April 2023 when the former allies clashed over plans to integrate their forces. The RSF made quick gains in central Sudan, including the capital Khartoum, but the army pushed them westward this year, leading to an intensification in fighting in Al-Fashir. The city's fall would give the RSF control over nearly all of Darfur — a vast region bordering Libya, Chad, Central African Republic and South Sudan — and pave the way for what analysts say could be Sudan's de facto division. Besieged along with the army and its allies are hundreds of thousands of Al-Fashir's residents and people displaced by previous attacks, many living in camps that monitors say are already in famine. One doctor, who asked not to be named for her safety, said hunger was an even bigger problem than the shelling. 'The children are malnourished, the adults are malnourished. Even I today haven't had any breakfast because I can't find anything,' she said. The RSF has blocked food supplies and aid convoys trying to reach the city have been attacked, locals said. Prices for the goods traders are able to smuggle in cost more than five times the national average. Many people have resorted to eating hay or ambaz, a type of animal feed made out of peanut shells, residents told Reuters. One advocacy group said even ambaz was running out. The RSF, which has its roots in the Janjaweed militias accused of atrocities in Darfur in the early 2000s, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. RISKS OF FLIGHT Many residents fleeing the city have sought shelter in Tawila, about 60 km (40 miles) west. Some of those who made it told Reuters they were attacked by groups of RSF fighters along the way. 'We fled to Shagra (village) first before getting to Tawila and they attacked us again,' 19-year-old Enaam Abdallah said. 'If they find your phone, they take it. Money, they take it. A donkey or anything, they'll take it. They killed people in front of us and kidnapped girls in front of us,' she said. On Monday, Emergency Lawyers, a human rights group, said at least 14 people fleeing Al-Fashir were killed and dozens injured when they were attacked in a village along the route. Tawila is hosting more than half a million displaced people, most of whom have arrived since April, when the RSF stepped up its assault on Al-Fashir and attacked the massive Zamzam displacement camp to the city's south. But Tawila offers little aid or shelter, as humanitarian organizations are stretched by foreign aid cuts. People who arrived there told Reuters they receive small amounts of grain, including sorghum and rice, but amounts were varying and insufficient. Sudan is in the throes of the rainy season, which in combination with poor living conditions and inadequate sanitation has led to an outbreak of cholera. Since mid-June, aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres has treated 2,500 cases of cholera, a spokesperson told Reuters. Some 52 people have died from the disease, according to the Coordinating Committee for Displaced People, a Sudanese advocacy group that operates across Darfur. Vaccines needed to stem the outbreak, if provided, will take time to arrive given the rains. An assessment by the Norwegian Refugee Council found that only 10 percent of people in Tawila had reliable access to water, and even fewer had access to latrines. Most families report eating one meal a day or less, the organization said. 'We don't have houses to protect us from the rain and we don't have tarps. We have to wait for the rain to stop for the children to sleep,' mother-of-four Huda Ali said as she sat among roofless shelters made of straw. She said she tried to make sure her children washed their hands and only ate food that had been properly heated. The United Nations called for a humanitarian pause to fighting in Al-Fashir last month as the rainy season began, but the RSF rejected the call. Fighting has also raged across Sudan's Kordofan region,which borders Darfur, as the two sides fight to demarcate clear zones of control amid stalled mediation efforts.
The Independent
14-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
I escaped the war. My family's still stuck
It took Ismail two years to reach the UK from Sudan, where he fled a life defined by conflict and a constant struggle to survive. Violence erupted in the country in April 2023 when long-simmering tensions between its military and paramilitary leaders broke out. The 37-year-old began his journey from the city of Al-Fashir, where he was born and raised. In Independent Studio's latest series UNHEARD, Ismail shares how he risked everything on a dangerous journey to the UK in hopes of supporting his family, many of whom remain in Sudan's war-ravaged Zamzam refugee camp.
Russia Today
04-06-2025
- Health
- Russia Today
UN aid workers killed in ambush in African state
At least five UN aid workers were killed and several others injured when an armed group attacked a humanitarian convoy late Monday in Sudan, where a conflict between rival forces has raged for over two years. The convoy, jointly operated by the World Food Program (WFP) and UNICEF, was en route to the war-torn North Darfur city of Al Fashir when it came under fire while parked 80 kilometers away, awaiting clearance, the agencies said in a statement on Tuesday. 'The convoy, made up of 15 trucks, was attempting to reach children and families in famine-affected Al Fashir with life-saving food and nutrition supplies,' they reported. According to the statement, several trucks were burned and vital humanitarian supplies damaged. The five victims were Sudanese contractors employed by the UN agencies. 'The United Nations condemns this horrendous attack in the strongest possible terms,' UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric on Tuesday. The convoy had traveled more than 1,800 km from Port Sudan, which itself has endured drone strikes, in what the UN said would have been the first aid delivery to Al Fashir in over a year. The ambush follows recent escalations in violence, including a bombing of WFP premises in the city last week and a deadly drone strike on a hospital in the North Kordofan capital, El Obeid. The African country has been mired in conflict since April 2023, when fighting broke out between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Over 9 million people have been displaced by the war, and humanitarian groups warn that famine and disease are spreading rapidly. According to the UN, at least 1.5 million people are trapped in Al Fashir and its surrounding camps, cut off from sustained aid delivery. On Tuesday, the UN food agency and UNICEF warned that hundreds of thousands of people in the region, many of whom are children, face a 'high risk of malnutrition and starvation if supplies do not urgently reach them.' The WFP and UNICEF said that while their teams remain on the ground despite the insecurity, Sudan's warring parties must uphold international humanitarian law and ensure the safety of aid workers. 'Both agencies demand an immediate end to attacks on humanitarian personnel, their facilities and vehicles,' they stated.
Arab News
03-06-2025
- General
- Arab News
UN convoy attacked on the way to Sudan's Al-Fashir, UNICEF says
GENEVA: A UN convoy delivering food into Sudan's Al-Fashir in North Darfur came under attack overnight, a spokesperson for the UN children's agency told Reuters on Tuesday, adding that initial reports indicated 'multiple casualties.' 'We have received information about a convoy with WFP and UNICEF trucks being attacked last night while positioned in Al Koma, North Darfur, waiting for approval to proceed to Al-Fashir,' UNICEF spokesperson Eva Hinds said in response to questions. She did not say who was responsible or elaborate on the reported casualties. Aid has frequently come under the crossfire in the two-year-old war between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, which has left more than half the population facing crisis levels of hunger. In a statement, the RSF's aid commission blamed an airstrike by the army, as did local activists. The army did not respond to a request for comment. Al Koma is controlled by the RSF, and earlier this week saw a drone strike that claimed several civilian lives, according to local activists. Famine conditions have previously been reported in Al-Fashir, the capital of North Darfur. The fighting and barriers to the delivery of aid put in place by both sides have cut off supplies. The attack is the latest of several assaults on aid in recent days. It follows the repeated shelling of UN World Food Programme premises in Al-Fashir by the RSF and an attack on El Obeid hospital in North Kordofan that killed several medics late last month.
