After months of US-led negotiations, the United States, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates (known collectively as the Quad [15]) issued a "roadmap to peace [16]" in Sudan, starting with a push for a three-month "humanitarian truce." However, despite the agreement with the main regional backers of the two sides in the war, fighting continues between the Sudanese armed forces and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF [17]). On Sept. 19, a week after the "roadmap" was announced, an RSF drone strike on a mosque in El Fasher [18], the besieged capital of North Darfur state, left more than 70 people dead. (TNH [22], BBC News [23])
The humanitarian crisis in Darfur region worsened in August, as UN officials said [24] they were "deeply alarmed" by a large-scale RSF assault on El Fasher and the nearby Abu Shouk [25] displacement camp. The UN humanitarian coordinator in Sudan, Sheldon Yett, condemned [19] the assault and warned of catastrophic consequences for civilians under siege, facing severe shortages of food, clean water, and medical services.
The World Health Organization [26](WHO) has repeatedly warned about the health impact of the siege. Hanan Balkhy, the WHO regional director for the Eastern Mediterranean, reported in May that escalated violence in North Darfur had displaced more than 400,000 people, while Sudan faces the world's worst hunger crisis with 24.6 million people in severe food insecurity, including 770,000 children suffering from acute malnutrition.
In April, after the RSF overran the Zamzam [27] displacement camp outside El Fasher, killing hundreds of residents, a coalition of aid organizations and human rights groups issued a statement [20] finding: "Genocide and atrocity crimes are being committed now in North Darfur. The RSF is engaged in the mass killing of civilians and will likely continue this if/when they reach El Fasher." The statement charged that the RSF is systematically destroying critical civilian sites and infrastructure including markets, hospitals, schools, and daycare centers.
But the RSF has imposed an ongoing telecommunications blackout on the area, obstructing information sharing about the full scope and scale of what is happening. Starlink is the only connection between North Darfur and the outside world, and the RSF ordered [28] Starlink devices to be shut down as they moved north from Nyala [17], capital of South Darfur state, in preparation for their attack on Zamzam.
In February, the UN Security Council [29] said it had received alarming briefings describing North Darfur as a "hellscape" where civilians, including women and children, endure unspeakable violence, sexual assault, and targeted attacks on humanitarian workers. Council members condemned the escalation and demanded compliance with international humanitarian law. (Jurist [30], GlobalR2P [20])
