As the paramilitary RSF secures its capture of Darfur’s last major city, survivors recount a systematic campaign of killings and extortion, forcing tens of thousands to flee for their lives into Chad.
TINE, Chad – The capture of the Sudanese city of El-Fasher by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has triggered a massive humanitarian crisis, with nearly 90,000 people fleeing in a desperate exodus over the past two weeks, according to UN estimates.
Refugees arriving at camps in Chad bear witness to the calculated brutality that followed the city’s fall on October 26. Their testimonies paint a picture of summary executions, widespread looting, and a chillingly methodical extortion of civilians attempting to escape.
“The blood was still oozing from their corpses,” said Mahamat Ahmat Abdelkerim, 53, describing a house where he hid with his family from RSF patrols. His account is one of many that point to atrocities in the wake of the city’s capture, which marks a strategic turning point in Sudan’s devastating civil war.
The escape route from El-Fasher became a landscape of horror. Civilians were forced to climb through a vast trench encircling the city, which was filled with the bodies of those killed in the fighting. After navigating this grim obstacle, survivors faced a series of RSF checkpoints where armed fighters demanded cash ransoms—often exceeding $1,000—for safe passage.
“The international community must not look away from the nightmare unfolding in El-Fasher,” the testimonies from Tine camp seem to cry out. The conflict, rooted in a power struggle between the RSF and the Sudanese army, has now displaced nearly 12 million people and created the world’s most severe hunger crisis, pushing a nation to the brink.
