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Sudan: inside the world’s worst war
- Since April 2024, the city of Al-Fasher in Darfur has been under siege by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group seeking national control, resulting in documented war crimes including the intentional targeting of civilian areas.
- Yale University researchers analyzed satellite imagery revealing that RSF shelling began on the city's eastern outskirts before expanding south and north, devastating the surrounding region by June.
- Human Rights Watch verified RSF social media footage showing an anti-tank missile strike in a residential area and corroborated witness accounts of a market attack that killed dozens.
- Over 100,000 people were displaced in the Abo Shuk camp north of the city, which has been subject to multiple attacks, including one witnessed on May 23rd.
- The International Criminal Court (ICC) is urgently investigating allegations of war crimes and ethnically motivated attacks, with experts suggesting the RSF may be specifically targeting non-Arab Zagawa populations, potentially constituting genocide.
- Satellite analysis confirmed the destruction of the non-Arab Zagawa village of Amar Jadid between March and June, following a historical pattern of RSF violence against non-Arabs, such as the November 2023 siege of El Geneina where the UN estimates 10,000 to 15,000 people were killed.
- Essential services have been systematically severed, with the RSF capturing the city's main power station and the Golo Reservoir, the primary water supply, actions that may constitute additional war crimes under the Rome Statute.
- Of the approximately dozen health facilities in Al-Fasher, most have been destroyed or damaged, and the remaining functional facility, South Hospital, was looted by RSF soldiers on June 8th, leaving the city with barely operational medical capacity.
- Following the June 8th raid, hospital staff and patients were forced to flee; some workers were subsequently detained, allegedly tortured with whips in an RSF prison, and held for ransom.
- Claims of torture and detention are not limited to the RSF, with allegations also emerging against troops aligned with the Sudanese National Army.
- Satellite analysis of cemeteries indicates a regular appearance of new graves, suggesting casualty numbers far exceed the official estimate of hundreds of deaths recorded in hospitals.
- A mass exodus of civilians began in early July, with survivors fleeing to internally displaced person (IDP) camps in Zamzam and areas held by the Sudanese Liberation Army (SLA) in Tawila.
- The UN declared a famine in the Zamzam camp on August 1st due to widespread hunger and disease, with over 100,000 families in Tawila reporting severe malnutrition among children.
- Experts estimate that hunger could kill more than 2 million people across Sudan by the end of September, representing the worst famine of the century.
- Despite the scale of the humanitarian crisis, global attention remains limited, though the potential collapse of Sudan poses a significant risk of destabilizing both Africa and the Middle East.
- The transcript concludes with an urgent call for a ceasefire and immediate international intervention to address the conflict.