For a year and a half, el‑Fasher was slowly strangled. The Rapid Support Forces ringed the city and shut down every road in and out. Food, medicine and fuel disappeared. Satellite images later confirmed what residents had been warning about: an earth wall and trenches built around the city to trap civilians inside.
When the RSF finally broke through in October, the escape routes turned into killing grounds. Survivors say people were shot as they ran, with bodies left on the roadside. Rights groups warn that the pattern of attacks in Darfur is not random. Entire communities were targeted, homes burned and people disappeared. The scale and consistency of the violence raise fears of ethnic cleansing.
Inside the city, months of bombardment had already destroyed markets, clinics and shelters. Families who tried to flee walked for days without water. Others were trapped in their homes as fighting closed in around them.
Fault Lines, Lighthouse Reports and the Sudan War Monitor used satellite imagery, videos and survivor accounts to piece together what happened. Their investigation shows a clear strategy: isolate the city, starve it, then take it by force. The fall of el‑Fasher became one of the deadliest chapters of the war, and another warning that Darfur’s past atrocities are repeating in plain sight.
