North Darfur RSF siege deepens, hospital strike kills dozens in South Darfur

The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are enforcing a siege on North Darfur’s capital on El Fasher that is causing mass starvation, according to a new update from Project Zamzam. In Nyala, South Darfur, a hospital strike killed dozens during the swearing-in of RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo ‘Hemedti’ as head of the Sudan’s RSF-aligned parallel government.

The Project Zamzam update describes El Fasher and the adjacent Abu Shouk displacement camp as being strangled by the RSF, who are denying humanitarian access and targeting civilians, particularly the non-Arab Zaghawa population.

Gaffar Mohammud Saeneen and Eric Reeves, co-chairs of the project, said civilians are dying at an alarming rate. Saeneen, who speaks daily with residents, reported: “Two hundred to three hundred people are starving to death every day.” 

He said this equates to a crude mortality rate of 10 deaths per 10,000 people per day, five times above the famine threshold set by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC).

The UN declared famine in Zamzam camp and El Fasher in August 2024 based on Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) surveys, which then found a CMR of 2.5. The Project Zamzam update stresses that El Fasher is now facing starvation at four times that level.

Those attempting to flee are being murdered, raped, or taken into captivity, while those who remain face certain starvation, according to the update. 

It adds that the RSF’s ability to sustain the siege depends heavily on military and financial support from the United Arab Emirates.

Aid pushed to Chad border

After the RSF’s April assault on Zamzam camp, which killed thousands, Team Zamzam relocated to Tiné on the Chad–Darfur border. From there, the group has continued its humanitarian work in exile, providing food kitchens, shelter materials, and trauma counselling for survivors of sexual violence.

As many as 250,000 displaced people have reached the area, where Team Zamzam and a consortium of Darfuri humanitarian actors are working on both sides of the wadi that divides Tiné Chad and Tina Darfur. Plans are underway to establish camps on the Darfur side once the seasonal floods recede.

Despite this local effort, the update notes that UN and international NGO responses remain “woefully inadequate”, hampered by funding cuts, insecurity, and restricted access.

Nyala hospital strike

Nyala witnessed renewed attacks on Saturday when a hospital was struck during Hemedti’s swearing-in as President of the Sudan Founding Alliance (Tasees) government. Eyewitnesses said a rocket, believed to have been fired from a drone, hit the crowded Yashfin Specialised Hospital, killing at least 35 patients and companions. The death toll is expected to rise.

The hospital strike in Nyala coincided with the inauguration of a parallel government announced by the RSF-led Tasees, according to sources linked to the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF).

The alliance, which includes the RSF and the SPLM-N led by Abdelaziz El Hilu, named Hemedti as president of a 15-member Presidential Council, with El Hilu as vice president and former Sovereign Council member Mohamed Hassan El Tawashi as prime inister.

Eight regional governors were also appointed. Tasees described itself as a ‘unity and peace government’ operating outside the control of Port Sudan’s de facto authorities, rejecting claims it threatens Sudan’s territorial integrity.

Neither the RSF-led government in Nyala nor the SAF has claimed responsibility.

The Sudanese Congress Party condemned what it called the “systematic killing” of civilians through aerial bombardment, while the Civil Democratic Alliance (Sumoud) described the strike as “a new tragedy added to the endless book of this war”.

Both groups demanded accountability and urged all warring parties to stop targeting civilian sites.