MSF gains limited access to Sudan’s El Fasher after RSF takeover

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said it was recently granted limited access to El Fasher in Sudan’s North Darfur state to assess conditions for civilians and health facilities, months after the city fell under the control of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

The paramilitary group seized El Fasher in late October following a prolonged siege that MSF says was marked by atrocities against civilians.

MSF said its team spent about four hours in the city on Jan. 15 “under constant supervision by security officials.” They observed widespread destruction and neighbourhoods largely emptied of residents.

The team visited two displacement sites housing mostly women, children and elderly people. In health facilities, MSF said it saw around 20 male patients suffering from old injuries and reiterated its willingness to support referrals for patients requiring surgery to MSF-run projects with surgical capacity elsewhere.

MSF said it was unable to carry out a “thorough and independent assessment” due to access constraints, but did not observe large-scale acute medical needs in what it described as a “ghost town” with few remaining or returning civilians.

“This stands in stark contrast to the regional capital El Fasher once was,” the organisation said in a statement.

The visit was MSF’s first to El Fasher since it suspended operations there in August 2024 and in Zamzam displacement camp in February 2025. MSF said the brief visit offered only a limited glimpse of the situation but highlighted the scale of destruction in the city.

The findings echo accounts of mass killings, torture, kidnappings and other violence reported by patients MSF has treated in recent months in Tawila, about 60 km (37 miles) west of El Fasher, the organisation said.

Since the RSF takeover, MSF said it has been attempting to locate and assist survivors across Darfur and along the border with eastern Chad, adding that it fears many civilians who remained in El Fasher at the time were killed or forcibly displaced.

When El Fasher fell into the hands of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the consequences for the city were immediate and devastating. Media outlets were blocked from accessing the area, and humanitarian organizations were denied entry, cutting off vital lifelines of information and aid. This isolation created an environment where abuses could occur without scrutiny. The lack of transparency has made it extremely difficult for outside observers to assess the full scale of the crisis, but reports that have managed to emerge paint a grim picture of widespread suffering.

Humanitarian agencies now believe that large-scale atrocities have taken place in El Fasher under RSF control. Accounts from survivors and limited documentation suggest that civilians have been subjected to violence, forced displacement, and other grave human rights violations. These reports indicate patterns of abuse that align with what international monitors describe as systematic targeting of communities. Although access remains restricted, some of these atrocities have been documented, providing crucial evidence that underscores the severity of the situation.

In response to the documented atrocities, the European Union has taken decisive measures by imposing sanctions on several RSF commanders who are believed to be directly involved in the violence. In addition, there have been growing calls to formally designate the RSF as a terrorist organization, reflecting the severity of its actions and the threat it poses to regional stability. Most recently, prosecutors at the International Criminal Court announced their findings, concluding that war crimes and crimes against humanity were committed in El Fasher.