A Sudanese paramilitary group said it had seized the army headquarters in the besieged and famine-stricken city of El Fasher in western Sudan, in a potentially decisive shift of a long and brutal battle.
In a statement, the Rapid Support Forces, or R.S.F., said it had seized the Sixth Division Headquarters of Sudan’s military in El Fasher, its last major obstacle to the control of the sprawling western region of Darfur.
Officials with Sudan’s military did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Local reports, which could not be immediately independently confirmed, said that Sudanese military troops and allied Darfuri militias had retreated to residential parts of the city, which has a current estimated population of 260,000 people.
Aid workers across Darfur reported that R.S.F. fighters erupted into celebration, firing their guns in the air. “A great victory has been achieved,” the group’s statement said.
Among other Sudanese, however, those scenes stoked fears of violent retribution.
For over a year, American and other officials have warned of a potential massacre if the R.S.F. seized El Fasher. In particular, many fear a repeat of the slaughter in El Geneina, another city in Darfur, where up to 15,000 civilians were killed after the R.S.F. captured it in late 2023, according to the United Nations.
Numerous arrests were taking place on Sunday morning in El Fasher, an official with one aid group working in Darfur said on the condition of anonymity to protect the safety of staff on the ground. A list circulated on R.S.F. social media channels naming Sudanese army officers the group was hunting down in El Fasher.
The R.S.F. has been laying siege to El Fasher since April 2024 in a brutal assault that set off a famine in the city, cleared out a camp filled with about 500,000 displaced civilians, and saw numerous drone and artillery strikes on hospitals and homes. The army headquarters was the military’s last major outpost in western Sudan, and gaining control of El Fasher would give the R.S.F. control of all major urban centers in Darfur.
R.S.F. control of Darfur would hasten a de facto split of the vast African country, with the paramilitaries ruling the western and southwestern regions, and the army ruling the east and the capital, Khartoum.
In May, the R.S.F. began building a tall earthen berm around El Fasher, cutting off vital supplies of medicine and food. People trapped in the city were reduced to eating animal feed to survive. Those who managed to flee reported sexual violence against women and targeted killings of men.
In its statement, the R.S.F. said it would work in coordination with a parallel government that it recently established in Nyala “to provide full protection for civilians, facilitate the return of displaced persons to their homes, and ensure the provision of their essential needs.”
Abdalrahman Altayeb contributed reporting from Port Sudan, Sudan.
Declan Walsh is the chief Africa correspondent for The Times based in Nairobi, Kenya. He previously reported from Cairo, covering the Middle East, and Islamabad, Pakistan.
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