Name: El-Fasher empty after RSF takeover as thousands flee embattled city
Uploaded: 2025-12-04T08:04:11.425Z
Duration: 2 min 40 s
Description: Sudan’s el-Fasher turns into a deserted city—Satellite images show no signs of civilian life after RSF control and mass displacement.

Sudan’s el-Fasher turns into a deserted city—Satellite images show no signs of civilian life after RSF control and mass displacement.

Al Fashir

Al-Fasher in North Darfur has been largely emptied following its seizure by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in October. The RSF imposed a siege, trapping over 250,000 people, with only about 100,000 managing to escape and even fewer reaching displacement camps. 

Satellite imagery and humanitarian reports show deserted streets, mass graves, and evidence of burned bodies, while survivors describe abductions, killings, and missing family members. Aid organizations and witnesses accuse the RSF of summary executions and severe abuses against civilians during and after the takeover.

El-Fasher empty after RSF takeover as thousands flee embattled city

When Nafisa Adam fled Al-Fasher in North Darfur after the paramilitary rapid support forces seized it in October, she had her eldest son with her, along with her daughters. But she arrived in the displacement camp in Al-Dabba in northern Sudan without him. They forced him off the bus and back to Al-Fasher. They forced all the males off the bus. Even if you're an elderly male, you would be forced off the bus. They only left the woman. They begged them to let him go but they said that no male was allowed to leave Al-Fasher. More than a quarter of a million people were trapped in Al-Fasher as the RSF imposed a siege on the city before taking control of it. But aid organizations say only about 100,000 were able to escape and even fewer reached displacement camps. The paramilitary group is accused of abductions, mass killings and summary executions of civilians in Al-Fasher. Images provided by the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab shows nearly no signs of life in the city, including in markets. Satellite images also show mass graves and sites where bodies had been burned. Our team first identified objects consistent with bodies, including those surrounded by reddish discoloration, on the streets of Al-Fasher in satellite imagery from 27 October. We later saw those objects, including those near the Saudi hospital in the center of the city and near the former children's hospital, which had been identified as a detention site, be burned or removed. Those who fled Al-Fasher and reached the capital Khartoum say they fear their loved ones are either being detained or have been killed and their bodies buried in mass graves or burned. Inaya Abdullah fled Al-Fasher after it fell under RSF control. She says she escaped with her pregnant sister, leaving her husband behind. But the RSF stopped them on the outskirts of the city as her sister went into labor. They asked my sister if she gave birth to a girl or a boy. She said it was a girl. They held the baby and said it's a boy. Then they went and brought wood, lit it and boiled water and put the baby inside. The baby died. My sister died shortly after out of heartache. And my husband has been missing ever since. He didn't come with us. We don't know where he is. Nearly everyone who has fled Al-Fasher say they have at least one family member they've not heard from since the group took control of the city and fear that they may be held against their will or may be among those killed by the paramilitary forces. Hiba Morgan, Al Jazeera, Khartoum.

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