RSF shelling halts vital food aid kitchens in Sudan’s besieged El Fasher amid fierce clashes
April 28, 2025 (EL FASHER) – The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) heavily shelled El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state, on Monday amid renewed clashes, forcing the suspension of communal kitchens providing vital food aid to thousands of trapped residents, sources and activists said.
For weeks, the RSF has shelled El Fasher neighbourhoods and the nearby Abu Shouk camp for displaced people with artillery and drones, killing many civilians and destroying water sources and health facilities, according to residents and local reports.
Local sources told Sudan Tribune that “fierce clashes between the RSF and the Sudanese Army and its allies” occurred in the northern and eastern parts of the city, “using various weapons.”
The sources added that the RSF intensively shelled civilian areas and military positions held by the army and allied joint forces with artillery and drones, before launching ground attacks near the Mellit Gate axis, adjacent to Abu Shouk camp, and around the city’s main market.
The army and allied groups repelled the attack, the sources said.
Witnesses reported Sudanese Army artillery firing from bases west of the city towards RSF positions in eastern, southern, and western El Fasher, causing large explosions and plumes of smoke.
Volunteer activist Muhyiddin Shawgar, who supervises a local feeding initiative, announced the “complete shutdown” of the free kitchens. He stated the decision was necessary “to protect the lives of citizens and emergency response workers” from indiscriminate RSF shelling targeting shelters.
The El Fasher Resistance Committees Coordination confirmed the suspension in a statement, stressing the halt “was not merely an administrative decision but a cry of pain from the heart of a wounded city no longer able to bear more.”
“The stopping of meals means that stomachs will go hungrier, and adults and children will spend long hours facing the cruelty of war and hunger together,” the statement added.
The Coordination demanded an immediate end to the siege imposed on El Fasher.
Thousands of trapped civilians in El Fasher rely on these communal kitchens for food amid severe shortages of basic goods caused by the prolonged RSF siege on the Darfur regional capital, which has lasted nearly a year.