El-Fasher's displaced residents recount the horrors they witnessed in the city

The fall of el-Fasher, the Sudanese military’s last stronghold in Darfur, to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has unleashed a wave of horrific violence and a massive exodus, with survivors recounting streets littered with bodies, systematic attacks on civilians, and a harrowing journey to safety.

Tens of thousands have fled the city, with over 62,000 people escaping in a recent four-day period according to the UN.

Those who reached the relative safety of displacement hubs like Tawila brought with them stories of terror.

“We saw large numbers of dead people... If you went to the hospital, you'd be shocked,” said 70-year-old Fatima Abdulrahim, who walked for five days with her grandchildren.

She described hiding from gunmen and having to “cover the eyes of the young children who were scared so that none of them would see the bodies of the deceased.”

Massacre at a hospital and a city besieged

The brutality reached a nadir with an attack on a hospital, where the World Health Organization reported that gunmen killed at least 460 people, abducting doctors and nurses before gunning down staff, patients, and those seeking shelter.

Witnesses described RSF fighters going house-to-house, killing civilians and committing sexual assaults, leaving many victims with gunshot wounds in the streets.

A country fractured and facing famine

The capture of el-Fasher solidifies the RSF's control over most of Darfur, raising fears of a permanent partition of Sudan.

The two-year conflict has killed over 40,000 people—a figure aid groups say is a significant undercount—displaced more than 14 million, and fueled famine declarations in parts of Darfur.

The fall of the city marks a devastating new chapter in a war that has pushed the nation to the brink of collapse.