Hundreds of families make dangerous escape from Sudan’s El Fasher

October 19, 2025 (EL FASHER) – Hundreds of families, mostly women and children, are making a desperate escape from the besieged city of El Fasher, with at least two children starving to death during the perilous journey to find safety, a representative for displaced people said on Sunday.

The exodus from the war-torn capital of North Darfur comes as the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) intensifies its siege, completing large earthen barriers around the city that have choked off supplies of food and clean water.

“At least two female children died today from hunger on the journey from El Fasher to Tawila,” said Adam Rijal, a spokesman for a Darfur-wide body representing displaced people. He added that hundreds of exhausted families had arrived in the town of Tawila over the weekend.

Their journey to escape the city’s dire conditions is fraught with danger. Fleeing civilians are funnelled through an RSF-controlled checkpoint where they face horrific abuses, according to numerous reports from those who have escaped. Travellers have reported being subjected to killing, looting, arbitrary detention, and sexual violence by RSF fighters and their allied militias.

For those who survive the journey, the destination offers little relief. The town of Tawila is already overwhelmed, hosting thousands of people who have fled the conflict since April 2024 and are now living in grim conditions with a severe lack of humanitarian aid.