90% of Abu Shouk camp residents flee El Fasher amid RSF advances
September 15, 2025 (EL FASHER) – Intensifying attacks by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have forced around 90% of the residents of El Fasher’s Abu Shouk camp to flee in the past two days, a spokesperson for the camp said on Monday.
The exodus from the Abu Shouk camp, located in the northern part of the North Darfur capital, is the latest development in a weeks-long RSF offensive to seize control of the city. The army-held town has been under siege since April 2024, choking off supplies of food and medicine and creating a severe hunger crisis.
“During Sunday and Monday, most of the camp’s residents fled,” the spokesperson told Sudan Tribune, adding that a small number who remained sheltering near the Nyvasha market “have been subjected to intense attacks by RSF artillery and drones.”
He said the RSF made rapid advances inside the camp, forcing residents to flee deeper into El Fasher, while others undertook perilous journeys to the towns of Tawila and Korma under dire humanitarian conditions.
The spokesperson accused RSF fighters of widespread violations, including killings, looting, and arbitrary arrests. He added that dozens of young men had gone missing during the displacement.
The Abu Shouk camp, which once provided shelter to over 190,000 people, has been repeatedly hit by shelling and drone strikes, causing numerous casualties.
In late August, activists reported that RSF fighters stormed the camp in an attack that killed more than 40 people and destroyed 98% of its water sources.
Renewed clashes
Fighting also renewed on Monday in several parts of El Fasher between the Sudanese army, backed by allied armed groups, and the RSF.
Local sources said the RSF launched heavy attacks on army positions in the northeastern, southwestern, and eastern sectors of the city. Witnesses reported RSF artillery fire targeting army sites near El Fasher University and the former UNAMID peacekeeping mission headquarters.
A drone also fired four missiles at the army’s 6th Infantry Division headquarters and near the city’s main airport, witnesses said.
The RSF’s recent advances into several eastern neighbourhoods have further cornered the army and its allies, who have been pushed back towards the western part of the city.