Port Sudan, Sudan

Monday, November 3, 2025

People who fled El-Facher said Saturday that paramilitaries who took control of this western Sudanese city had separated families, killing or kidnapping young men, with Germany expressing alarm at the “absolutely apocalyptic” situation on the ground.

Since the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) took control of this town in the vast Darfur region on October 26, NGOs and witnesses have reported summary executions, sexual violence, attacks on humanitarian workers, looting, and kidnappings, while communications remain largely cut off.

Zahra, a mother of six, fled El-Facher for the town of Tawila, 70 km further west, like thousands of other displaced people.

In a satellite phone interview , she said that on the road, FSR fighters stopped them and took her 16- and 20-year-old sons, before releasing one of them.

” I don’t know if my son Mohamed is dead or alive,” she said, adding that the FSR took other boys who were in her group.

Adam, who also escaped from El-Facher, said that two of his sons, aged 17 and 21, accused by the paramilitaries of being armed fighters, were killed before his eyes.

– “The massacres continue” –

He said that FSR forces also accused him of being a combatant and subjected him to interrogation during which he was beaten, before being released.

Those who testified asked that their last names not be revealed for fear of reprisals.

More than 65,000 civilians have fled El-Facher, where tens of thousands of people are still trapped, according to the UN. Before the final assault by the paramilitaries, the city had a population of around 260,000.

With the capture of El Fasher after an 18-month siege, the RSF led by General Mohamed Daglo now controls the vast Darfur region, which covers a third of the country.

New satellite images and reports from Doctors Without Borders (MSF) on Saturday suggest that the massacres in the city are continuing.

The Yale University Humanitarian Research Lab, which analyzes videos and satellite images, identified at least 31 groups of “objects” corresponding to human bodies between Monday and Friday at various university and military sites.

“The evidence that the massacres are continuing is clearly visible,” it concluded.

MSF said it feared that “a large number of people” were still “in grave danger of death” in El-Facher and that civilians were being prevented by the FSR and their allies from “reaching safer areas” such as Tawila.

Survivors told MSF that residents had been separated according to gender, age, or presumed ethnic identity, and that many were still being held.

One survivor reported “horrific scenes” of prisoners being run over by combatants’ vehicles.

– “Terrifying” information –

Since Sunday, several videos on social media have shown men in FSR uniforms carrying out summary executions, with paramilitaries claiming that several of these sequences were “fabricated” by websites linked to the army.

The paramilitaries said Thursday that they had arrested several of their fighters suspected of abuses, and the UN called Friday for “swift and transparent” investigations after “appalling reports” of atrocities in the town.

Speaking on the sidelines of a conference in Bahrain on Saturday, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul described the situation as “absolutely apocalyptic,” referring to it, like the UN, as “the worst humanitarian crisis in the world.” The FSR “will have to answer for their actions,” he added.

“The information coming out of Darfur in recent days is truly terrifying,” echoed his British counterpart, Yvette Cooper, referring to “atrocities committed, mass executions, famine, and rape as a weapon of war.”

Since April 2023, Sudan has been torn apart by a war between the army, which controls the north and east of the country—with the pro-army government having retreated to Port Sudan—and the FSR.

Talks aimed at securing a truce, led for several months by a group comprising the United States, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia, have reached an impasse, according to an official close to the negotiations.

The RSF has received weapons and drones from the United Arab Emirates, according to UN reports, while the army has the support of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Turkey, according to observers. All deny any involvement.

Humaniterre with AFP