The besieged Sudanese city of El Fasher has been declared “uninhabitable” after more than 500 days of attacks by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), according to a new report. Data from MedGlobal, a US-based medical humanitarian group, indicates that most homes are destroyed and critical levels of malnourishment are widespread among the 250,000 people trapped inside.
For 549 days, El Fasher – the Sudanese army’s last stronghold in the west – has been surrounded by RSF fighters who have prevented all humanitarian access. Testimonies from nearly 900 people who recently fled the city reveal a population “pushed to the edge of survival”. Over 90% reported their homes had been destroyed, damaged or looted, and a quarter had experienced a death within the previous three months.
Health screenings conducted on those who reached the town of Al Dabbah in Northern State found acute malnutrition. Three-quarters of escapers said they “never or rarely” had food, and half lacked access to water. One in five children under five was acutely malnourished, with rates rising to 27.5% among those under 18 months. Among pregnant and lactating women, 38% were malnourished, and 60% of adolescent girls aged 15–19 showed signs of “wasting”.
The RSF has intensified artillery and drone attacks, with a strike on a displacement shelter last weekend killing at least 57 people, including 22 women and 17 children. The city’s last remaining hospital, al Saudi, was shelled last week, killing 13. Three-quarters of residents have been forced to move home at least three times, and 81% said they “never felt safe” moving around the city.
Efforts to secure a ceasefire and aid access, including a recent US-brokered agreement, have collapsed. Instead, the RSF has tightened the siege by building huge earthen berms around the city, making escape even harder. However, the Sudanese military has conducted airdrops to temporarily resupply defenders. Despite this, food remains scarce, and communications blackouts have cut off most residents from the outside world.
MedGlobal’s executive director, Joseph Belliveau, said: “The 500-day siege of El Fasher has pushed its inhabitants to the edge of survival. As one woman put it: ‘In El Fasher I smell death rather than life and hope.’” The report concludes that the destruction of homes and health infrastructure has made the city uninhabitable.
