Darfur’s nightmare returns: Why El Fasher’s fall signals a deeper, deadlier war

People sitting at a camp for displaced families who fled from al-Fashir to Tawila, North Darfur, Sudan. (Courtesy: Reuters photo)

El Fasher, long a refuge during earlier massacres, fell last weekend to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). What followed, survivors say, was a wave of shootings, executions and terror as residents fled through fields or hid in shattered neighbourhoods. Doctors reported hundreds killed in a single day at the last functioning hospital. The scenes echo Darfur’s darkest years, but this time the perpetrators are better armed and more organised, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Who the RSF are — and what has changed

The RSF descend from the Janjaweed militias accused of genocide in the 2000s. Once mounted fighters burning villages, they now field armoured convoys, heavy artillery and drones. Their leader, Lt. Gen. Mohamed Hamdan “Hemeti,” casts himself as a national figure and even announced a parallel government in Nyala. In practice, the RSF’s drive for power has fed a brutal civil war with the Sudanese Army, with ethnic targeting reported across Darfur.

The siege that starved a city

Before the fall, RSF forces ringed El Fasher with an earthen berm, trapping roughly a quarter-million people. Smuggling food or medicines invited beatings or worse. Hospitals ran out of supplies; malnourished children were fed animal fodder to keep them alive. Satellite images showed fires and strikes around the airport as the last Army garrison buckled. Those who escaped to Tawila carried stories of starvation, fear and families torn apart.

Why this war is worse than the last

Darfur’s earlier horror pushed villagers into vast camps like Zamzam, which swelled to half a million people and later became the epicentre of famine. Now, the RSF’s reach is broader, the weaponry more lethal and the ethnic score-settling more brazen. Rights groups say sexual violence is rampant; Washington has used the word “genocide.” Where the Janjaweed once dominated Darfur, today’s RSF seeks leverage over all of Sudan — and is acting like it.

The outside hands — and the missing outrage

Regional powers have fed this conflict, overtly or tacitly, while global attention has thinned. Diplomats press cease-fire talks that go nowhere as aid groups confront impossible conditions. Critics say the United Arab Emirates has armed the RSF despite public pledges to curb funding; others point to Egypt and Saudi Arabia’s roles. Unlike the 2000s, celebrity campaigns and mass protests are scarce. Policy circles condemn; the killing continues.

What matters now

El Fasher’s fall was widely predicted — so were the atrocities. That foreknowledge makes the failure to deter or restrain the RSF even starker. Without real pressure on external backers, protected corridors for aid and a credible security plan for civilians, Darfur risks sliding into a more methodical destruction than the world witnessed 20 years ago. The battlefield is familiar; the stakes, and the tools of terror, are far greater.