{"id":20123231,"date":"2025-11-19T19:13:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-19T18:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dabangasudan.org\/?p=20123231"},"modified":"2025-11-19T23:22:56","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T22:22:56","slug":"civilians-sheltering-in-war-torn-el-fasher-hope-to-return-to-homes-after-siege","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dabangasudan.org\/en\/all-news\/article\/civilians-sheltering-in-war-torn-el-fasher-hope-to-return-to-homes-after-siege","title":{"rendered":"Civilians sheltering in war-torn El Fasher hope to return to homes after siege"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Hundreds of displaced people in El Fasher, North Darfur, continue to stay in shelters within the city, while many hope to return to their homes after months of suffering and clashes that separated families and left extremely difficult humanitarian conditions. Abu El Qasim Ibrahim Musa, from the Imtidad El Tijaniyya neighbourhood and currently residing in the shelter at the Sharqiyah Girls\u2019 School, said they had endured difficult times in recent months, with even obtaining basic necessities like bread being extremely hard to come by. He added, \u201cNow, thank God, food is available… We are waiting to return to our homes.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Rest assured, my children, I am fine\u2026\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Musa told Radio Dabanga that he had contracted shrapnel and recently received treatment, and his condition is improving. His family members are scattered between Mellit and most of them are still unaware of his fate. He said, \u201cI want to reassure my children in Mellit and my brothers and sisters in Umm Badr, Tawila, and El Gedaref that I am well.\u201d He added that the Rapid Support Forces gathered civilians in one place on the day they seized El Fasher, and they have remained in displacement camps ever since. He also mentioned that a number of wells have recently been repaired.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crime scene<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the conclusion of his visit to Darfur, UN Under-Secretary-General Tom Fletcher described the region as \u201ca truly horrific scene and the epicentre of human suffering in the world,\u201d while characterizing El Fasher as a \u201ccrime scene,\u201d based on survivor testimonies. In a press conference on Monday, he explained that the crisis in Darfur disproportionately affects children, who represent one in five of those killed in El Fasher. Describing the plight of children fleeing El Fasher, he added, \u201cI met many children who carried their younger siblings to safety, and strangers who picked up infants from the streets after their parents had been killed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have nothing but the jellabiya I\u2019m wearing<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At another shelter at Omdurman Islamic University in El Fasher, a resident told Radio Dabanga that the situation is much better now than before, and that they are waiting to be allowed to return to their neighbourhoods after the Rapid Support Forces complete the cleanup operations, they said they are carrying out. He added: \u201cThese people have been very helpful to us\u2026 food and drink are available, but now I have nothing but the jellabiya I\u2019m wearing. I lost everything. I want to reassure my family that I\u2019m okay.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For his part, an official in one of the community initiatives that rushed to provide humanitarian aid to the city\u2019s residents confirmed to Radio Dabanga that several local initiatives are currently working to distribute food and basic necessities inside El Fasher, in an attempt to bridge the humanitarian gap left by the war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How do I get back to my home in El Fasher?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

These testimonies come at a time when thousands of residents are still living in shelters within the city after being unable to return to their homes or leave them due to what the Rapid Support Forces say are remnants of fighting and widespread destruction in residential neighbourhoods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Patrick Youssef, the regional director of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Africa, told a press conference in Geneva on Tuesday that every day that passes without access to El Fasher is a \u201clost day,\u201d stressing that his organization not only needs to provide assistance and leave El Fasher, but also to assess the situation on the ground \u201cand listen to the people there\u201d directly about the suffering they have endured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Youssef said the committee had been sounding the alarm for months to draw attention to El Fasher, and that the situation in and around the city had now become \u201cextremely tragic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Talks regarding entering El Fasher are very sensitive<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tom Fletcher, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, said regarding the situation in El Fasher that the international organization is striving to enter the famine-stricken city of El Fasher in Darfur and treat it as a \u201ccrime scene\u201d to investigate systematic executions, detentions, and rapes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fletcher said talks with the Rapid Support Forces, which control El Fasher, were \u201cvery sensitive\u201d but he hoped the United Nations would be able to enter El Fasher within days or weeks, not months. \u201cWe will make a hard effort to get in,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added that providing aid is a huge task for the United Nations in the city, which will be treated as a \u201ccrime scene\u201d to be investigated following reports of systematic executions, detentions, and rapes.<\/p>\n