Latest news with #ElFasher
Al Jazeera
2 days ago
- Health
- Al Jazeera
‘This must stop now': UN food body condemns RSF attacks on Sudan premises
The World Food Programme (WFP) has said it is 'shocked and alarmed' that its premises in southwestern Sudan have been hit by repeated shelling from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), as the paramilitary group wages a brutal civil war, now in its third year, with the Sudanese army. 'Humanitarian staff, assets, operations and supplies should never be a target. This must stop now', the United Nations body said on X on is the last major city held by the Sudanese army in the Darfur region. It has witnessed intense fighting between the army and RSF since May 2024, despite international warnings about the risks of violence in a city that serves as a key humanitarian hub for the five Darfur states. For more than a year, the RSF has sought to wrest control of el-Fasher, located more than 800km (500 miles) southwest of the capital, Khartoum, from the army, launching regular attacks on the city and two major famine-hit camps for displaced people on its outskirts. Adding to humanitarian woes on the ground, the Health Ministry in Khartoum state on Thursday reported 942 new cholera infections and 25 deaths the previous day, following 1,177 cases and 45 deaths the day before. Aid workers say the scale of the cholera outbreak is deteriorating due to the near-total collapse of health services, with about 90 percent of hospitals in key war zones no longer operational. Since August 2024, Sudan has reported more than 65,000 suspected cholera cases and at least 1,700 deaths across 12 of its 18 states. Khartoum alone has seen 7,700 cases and 185 deaths, including more than 1,000 infections in children under five, as it contends with more than two years of fighting between the army and the RSF. Sudan's army-backed government in Khartoum state announced earlier this month that all relief initiatives in the state must register with the Humanitarian Aid Commission (HAC), a government body that oversees humanitarian operations in Sudan. Aid workers and activists are fearful these regulations will lead to a crackdown on local relief volunteers, exacerbating the catastrophic hunger crisis affecting 25 million people across the country. The HAC was given expanded powers to register, monitor and, critics argue, crack down on local and Western aid groups by former leader Omar al-Bashir in 2006, according to aid groups, local relief volunteers and experts. The army-backed government announced last week that it had dislodged RSF fighters from their last bases in Khartoum state, two months after retaking the heart of the capital from the paramilitaries. The city, nonetheless, remains nonetheless devastated with health and sanitation infrastructure barely functioning. The RSF has been battling the SAF for control of Sudan since April 2023. The civil war has killed more than 20,000 people, uprooted 15 million and created what the UN considers the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
Al Arabiya
3 days ago
- Health
- Al Arabiya
Women in Sudan's Darfur at ‘near-constant risk' of sexual violence: MSF
Sexual violence is a 'near-constant risk' for women and girls in Sudan's western region of Darfur, Doctors without Borders (MSF) warned on Wednesday, calling for urgent action to protect civilians and provide support to survivors. Since war began in April 2023 between Sudan's regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, the reported attacks in Darfur have been 'heinous and cruel, often involving multiple perpetrators,' according to MSF emergency coordinator Claire San Filippo. The conflict has killed tens of thousands, displaced 13 million and left the country's already fragile infrastructure in ruins. The RSF has been accused since the start of the war of systematic sexual violence across the country. 'Women and girls do not feel safe anywhere,' said San Filippo, after MSF teams from Darfur and neighbouring Chad gathered harrowing accounts of victims. 'They are attacked in their own homes, when fleeing violence, getting food, collecting firewood, working in the fields. They tell us they feel trapped,' she added. Between January 2024 and March 2025, MSF said it had treated 659 survivors of violence in South Darfur, 94 percent of them women and girls. More than half were assaulted by armed actors, and nearly a third were minors, with some victims as young as five. In Tawila, a small town about 60 kilometres (40 miles) to the west from North Darfur's besieged capital of El-Fasher, 48 survivors of sexual violence were treated at the local hospital between January and early May. Most arrived after fleeing an RSF attack on the Zamzam displacement camp that killed at least 200 civilians and displaced over 400,000. In eastern Chad, which hosts over 800,000 Sudanese refugees, MSF treated 44 survivors since January 2025 -- almost half of them children. A 17-year-old girl recounted being gang-raped by RSF fighters, saying: 'I wanted to lose my memory after that.' According to Ruth Kauffman, MSF emergency medical manager, 'access to services for survivors of sexual violence is lacking and, like most humanitarian and healthcare services in Sudan, must urgently be scaled up'. 'People -- mostly women and girls -- who suffer sexual violence urgently need medical care, including psychological support and protection services,' she added.
Arab News
3 days ago
- Health
- Arab News
Women in Sudan's Darfur at 'near-constant risk' of sexual violence: MSF
PORT SUDAN: Sexual violence is a "near-constant risk" for women and girls in Sudan's western region of Darfur, Doctors without Borders (MSF) warned on Wednesday, calling for urgent action to protect civilians and provide support to survivors. Since war began in April 2023 between Sudan's regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, the reported attacks in Darfur have been "heinous and cruel, often involving multiple perpetrators," according to MSF emergency coordinator Claire San Filippo. The conflict has killed tens of thousands, displaced 13 million and left the country's already fragile infrastructure in ruins. The RSF has been accused since the start of the war of systematic sexual violence across the country. "Women and girls do not feel safe anywhere," said San Filippo, after MSF teams from Darfur and neighbouring Chad gathered harrowing accounts of victims. "They are attacked in their own homes, when fleeing violence, getting food, collecting firewood, working in the fields. They tell us they feel trapped," she added. Between January 2024 and March 2025, MSF said it had treated 659 survivors of violence in South Darfur, 94 percent of them women and girls. More than half were assaulted by armed actors, and nearly a third were minors, with some victims as young as five. In Tawila, a small town about 60 kilometres (40 miles) to the west from North Darfur's besieged capital of El-Fasher, 48 survivors of sexual violence were treated at the local hospital between January and early May. Most arrived after fleeing an RSF attack on the Zamzam displacement camp that killed at least 200 civilians and displaced over 400,000. In eastern Chad, which hosts over 800,000 Sudanese refugees, MSF treated 44 survivors since January 2025 -- almost half of them children. A 17-year-old girl recounted being gang-raped by RSF fighters, saying: "I wanted to lose my memory after that." According to Ruth Kauffman, MSF emergency medical manager, "access to services for survivors of sexual violence is lacking and, like most humanitarian and healthcare services in Sudan, must urgently be scaled up". "People -- mostly women and girls -- who suffer sexual violence urgently need medical care, including psychological support and protection services," she added.
Jordan Times
14-05-2025
- Health
- Jordan Times
UNICEF says artillery fire leaves Sudan hospital patients without water
Displaced Sudanese sit at a shelter after they were evacuated by the Sudanese army to a safer area in Omdurman, on May 13, 2025 (AFP photo) KHARTOUM — Around 1,000 critically ill patients in Sudan's Darfur region are nearly without drinking water after artillery fire destroyed a water tanker at a hospital, UNICEF said on Wednesday. The tanker was stationed at the Saudi hospital, one of the few still operational in El Fasher, a city in North Darfur with a population of around two million. The city is the only state capital among Darfur's five states to remain outside the control of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), but has been under siege by the paramilitary group since May 2024. "Yesterday, a UNICEF-supported water truck in the Saudi hospital compound, El Fasher, was destroyed by artillery fire, disrupting access to safe water for an estimated 1,000 severely ill patients," the UN agency said. "UNICEF continues to call on all parties to abide by their obligations under international humanitarian law and end all attacks on or near critical civilian infrastructure," it added. The war in Sudan, now in its third year, has pitted the armed forces led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan against the RSF headed by his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo. The conflict has effectively split the country in two, with the army controlling the north, east, and centre, while the RSF dominates nearly all of Darfur and parts of the south. On Wednesday, the army accused the RSF in a statement of targeting populated areas of the city. In April, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) estimated that 70 to 80 per cent of health facilities in conflict-affected areas in Sudan were out of service, citing El Fasher as a prime example. The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced 13 million, including 5.6 million in Darfur alone. According to the UN, the war has caused the world's worst humanitarian crisis. Both sides in the conflict have been accused of war crimes, including deliberately targeting civilians, indiscriminately bombing residential areas and obstructing the delivery of humanitarian aid.
LBCI
10-05-2025
- Politics
- LBCI
Strike on Sudan's Darfur kills 14 members of one family, rescuers say
At least 14 members of the same family were killed in an air strike on a displacement camp in Sudan's war-torn Darfur region, a rescue group said Saturday, blaming paramilitaries. The Abu Shouk camp "was the target of intense bombardment by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on Friday evening," said the group of volunteer aid workers, which also reported wounded. The camp is located near the city of El-Fasher, the last state capital in Darfur, still out of the RSF's control. AFP
