El-Fasher residents say life ‘unbearable’ as RSF siege, shelling deepen crisis

May 13, 2025 (EL-FASHER) – Local residents in El-Fasher, North Darfur, told Sudan Tribune on Tuesday that life has become “unbearable” as worsening humanitarian conditions grip the city due to intensified indiscriminate attacks by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) targeting markets and water sources.

Markets are out of service due to RSF shelling, and obtaining essential goods is extremely difficult amid soaring prices, with one resident saying a pound of sugar now costs between 15,000 and 17,000 Sudanese pounds (SDG).

The city faces an acute fuel crisis, forcing people to use animal-drawn carts for transport and to move the injured. Goods are smuggled in, significantly inflating their cost.

The situation in El-Fasher, besieged by the RSF for a year, significantly worsened after RSF fighters seized control of the nearby Zamzam camp for displaced people (15 km away) last month. The camp had been a key hub for consumer goods. Dozens were killed and hundreds displaced when the RSF overran it, according to reports at the time.

Perilous attempts to flee the city continue, with some individuals reportedly facing kidnappings and abuses by RSF elements and allied militias, an eyewitness told Sudan Tribune.

“Basic services are completely non-existent, and the shelling is relentless,” a female resident identified only as “M.” told Sudan Tribune. “We are now living in trenches.”

El-Fasher is also grappling with a severe liquidity crisis and rampant black-market currency trading. One million SDG transferred via banking applications is worth only 550,000 to 650,000 SDG in cash, local dealers said.

A fighter with the joint forces protecting El-Fasher told Sudan Tribune that rescuing and treating the wounded has become “an almost impossible task” due to the collapse of medical services and difficulties in accessing them.