World · Africa · 4 hrs ago
El Fasher population falls by more than 90% amid hunger and abuse, Amnesty says
El Fasher has lost more than 90% of its population since more than a million displaced people sought safety there last year.
The city is in Sudan’s North Darfur region and was captured by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) about a year ago.
Amnesty International says fear, hunger and abuses remain widespread in the city.
The rights group interviewed 25 residents and humanitarian workers, and said many residents described arbitrary detention, torture and unlawful killings by the RSF.
Some people interviewed said they had been held in schools, where detainees included women, children, elderly people and the wounded.
The RSF has been accused of crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing during its campaign, as Sudan’s civil war continues.
Amnesty is calling for detainees to be released and abuses to stop, but the RSF did not respond to the group’s request for comment.
Amnesty International says El Fasher’s population has fallen by more than 90 percent since last year, with about 70,000 people remaining.
The Rapid Support Forces captured the Sudanese city about a year ago.
Amnesty reports widespread unlawful killings, detention, torture and surveillance in the city.
People interviewed by Amnesty described hunger and abuse in detention.
The organisation called on the RSF to release people held arbitrarily and end abuses.
- Who
- Amnesty International reported the findings. The RSF controls El Fasher.
- What
- The city’s population has fallen by more than 90 percent, amid reports of hunger, detention, torture and other abuses.
- When
- Amnesty published its findings on Friday, 23 October 2026. The RSF captured the city about a year earlier.
- Where
- El Fasher, in Sudan’s North Darfur region.
- Why
- Not stated
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
Sudan’s civil war began.
The RSF captured El Fasher.
The RSF detained Hatim when he returned to El Fasher to retrieve belongings.
Fifteen residents interviewed by Amnesty left El Fasher.
Amnesty contacted the RSF about its findings and said it received no response.
- Population remaining
- About 70,000
- Population decline
- More than 90 percent from last year’s figures
- Amnesty interviews
- 25 civilians: 19 residents and six humanitarian workers
- Residents detained by RSF
- 17 of the 19 residents interviewed
- Hatim’s detention
- About four months in a school with about 300 people
3 sources
What people are saying
a pervasive pall of fear hangs over El Fasher today
Torture is something which is permanent in any [RSF] detention. They executed people who tried to look at them… If you sleep a lot, they don’t like that; they will execute you. They ask, ‘You want to take a rest? We will give you permanent rest’
You could not move freely; you had to stay there… [The RSF] beat me up two times I tried fleeing… including on my wounds.
They take people out [of the cell] randomly; they accuse you of being with the Joint Forces or the military… And they beat you until you faint… Sometimes I was beaten four times a day… It just depends on their mood