Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) urgently appeals for civilians to be protected in El Fasher, capital of Sudan’s North Darfur state, and for them to be allowed to flee to safer areas.
The Darfur region of western Sudan has experienced a surge in ethnic-based violence since the outbreak of the current conflict in 2023, including large-scale massacres committed by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and their allies in Zamzam displacement camp in April. We are deeply alarmed that this could happen again in El Fasher.
Earlier today, our medical teams working 37 miles away in Tawila admitted dozens of patients coming from El Fasher to the overwhelmed town’s hospital.
Hundreds of survivors flee to Tawila
During the night of October 26 to 27, around 1,000 people from El Fasher arrived by truck at the entrance of Tawila, where we set up a health post to provide emergency care and refer critical patients directly to the hospital.
So far today, about 300 people were treated at the health post and 130 sent to the emergency room, including 15 who required lifesaving surgery. Last week, more than 1,300 people arrived in Tawila from El Fasher, where many more people appear to remain trapped. MSF stands ready to respond to more mass influxes of displaced and injured people in Tawila, which hosts an estimated 800,000 internally displaced people.
High levels of malnutrition among children
On October 18 and 19, MSF screened 165 children under 5 arriving to Tawila, and found that 75 percent of them were acutely malnourished, including 26 percent who were severely malnourished. This shocking rate underscores the catastrophic situation unfolding in El Fasher, where famine has been spreading as the RSF have been attacking and besieging the area for more than 500 days, preventing food and aid from reaching starving people.
With soaring prices, community kitchens shutting down, shelled and depleted markets, and humanitarian aid blocked, people have had almost no access to food.
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