Sudan’s military has withdrawn from the key city of El Fasher in western Sudan after a bloody, monthslong battle against a paramilitary group, the country’s army chief said.
The withdrawal of Sudanese forces means that the paramilitary group, the Rapid Support Forces, now effectively controls all of the sprawling Darfur region. The Rapid Support Forces, or R.S.F., claimed in recent days that it had seized the army headquarters in the besieged El Fasher.
Sudan’s military chief, Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, confirmed in a televised statement on Monday that his forces had withdrawn from El Fasher “to spare the rest of the citizens and the rest of the city from destruction.”
“The leadership there, including security, made assessments that they have to leave the city due to the systematic destruction and killing of civilians,” he said in the address, made on state television.
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 brought numerous drone and artillery strikes on hospitals and homes.
Control of El Fasher is a major victory for the R.S.F. The group now controls all major urban centers in Darfur — and the vast country of Sudan is effectively split. The paramilitaries now rule the western and southwestern regions, and the army has the east and the capital, Khartoum.
Lynsey Chutel is a Times reporter based in London who covers breaking news in Africa, the Middle East and Europe.
The post Sudan’s Military Withdraws From Key City in Darfur After Monthlong Battle appeared first on New York Times.
