Sudanese

Mohammed Zakaria had not slept in two days when the news came that el-Fasher, his hometown, had fallen to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

The Sudanese video journalist and human rights activist had been monitoring the deteriorating situation from Kampala, Uganda, watching as the paramilitary seized the North Darfur governor’s office in the city on Friday, edging closer to taking control of all of it.

He feared the worst.

For Zakaria, the “nightmare” scenario is intensely personal. Searching through social media after the city’s fall, he discovered footage posted on Facebook by RSF soldiers celebrating, standing over dead bodies. He recognised three of his uncles among the dead.

“They are celebrating by killing them,” he said.

He said another uncle’s Facebook profile photo had been changed to an image of an RSF fighter, a chilling message about his possible fate.

“We don’t know where he is … we’re really scared for him,” he said.

The fall of el-Fasher

The city fell to the RSF on Sunday after an 18-month siege, the Sudanese army confirming its withdrawal from what was its last outpost in the Darfur region, held for months by the resolve of fighters holed up there.

The RSF’s capture of el-Fasher gives the paramilitary control over all five state capitals in Darfur, marking a significant turning point in Sudan’s civil war.

El-Fasher endured one of the longest urban sieges in modern warfare this century. The RSF began encircling it in May 2024 and intensified its assaults after being driven from the capital, Khartoum, by the army in March.

What followed its fall has been described by international observers as a massacre on an unprecedented scale, with satellite imagery and social media footage pointing to mass atrocities by RSF fighters, reportedly along ethnic lines.

“We have been talking about this for more than a year. We knew this would happen,” Zakaria told Al Jazeera, his voice breaking.

Sarra Majdoub, a former UN Security Council expert on Sudan, told Al Jazeera observers were warning for months of the city’s fall, like other major urban areas in Darfur that were captured by the RSF, but “they surprisingly held on for a really long time”.

A communications blackout has all but cut off connection from the city, leaving those with loved ones there in a state of anxious uncertainty.

An estimated 260,000 civilians remained trapped in the city when it fell, half of them children.

The Sudan Doctors Network said a “heinous massacre” had taken place in el-Fasher, while the Joint Forces, a coalition of armed groups allied with the Sudanese army, said 2,000 people had been executed. The UN said it documented 1,350 deaths.

Reports of atrocities

The Yale School of Public Health’s Humanitarian Research Lab, which monitors the war in Sudan, reported Tuesday that satellite imagery revealed evidence consistent with mass killings, including what seem to be visible pools of blood and clusters of corpses.

Nathaniel Raymond, executive director of the Humanitarian Research Lab, told a media briefing on Tuesday that the killings were “only comparable to Rwanda-style killings”, referring to the 1994 Tutsi genocide in which hundreds of thousands of people were killed in weeks.

As early as October 2, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk warned of the risk of “large-scale, ethnically driven attacks and atrocities”, calling for immediate action to prevent it.

Social media footage verified by Al Jazeera’s Sanad fact-checking agency after the city’s fall showed many instances of RSF fighters carrying out summary executions of civilians. In one video, an RSF commander bragged that he had killed 2,000 people.

In a statement on Monday, the RSF said it was committed to “protecting civilians”.

Majdoub told Al Jazeera that the voyeuristic nature of the videos recorded by RSF fighters was among the “most disturbing elements” of the violence.

She recalled that fighters filming abuses had been seen before in places such as el-Geneina in West Darfur and Gezira state, “but el-Fasher has been different, their violence is more exaggerated.”

“It is very painful,” Zakaria said, “finding videos in social media, and then you find that you know this person, who is a friend, or a distant relative, or uncle, surrounded by RSF fighters.

“This is a reality now for many people”.

He remains unable to locate dozens of friends and relatives.

Among them is Dr Mudathir Ibrahim Suleiman, medical director of Saudi Hospital, whom Zakaria last spoke to early Saturday morning, hours before the RSF took the city.

“He told me he would escape with his father and relatives,” Zakaria said. “Until now, I didn’t hear anything … We found that some doctors reached Tawila, but Dr Mudathir is not among them.”

Darfur’s governor, Minni Minnawi, said on Wednesday the RSF had committed a massacre in the Saudi Hospital, killing 460 people. He also posted footage on X showing a summary execution.

Residents who spoke to Al Jazeera in the weeks before the final offensive described daily bombardments and periodic drone strikes. People dug trenches to hide in at dawn as shelling began, sometimes remaining underground for hours.

The United Nations migration agency reported that more than 26,000 people fled the fighting since Sunday, either heading to the outskirts of the city or attempting the dangerous journey to Tawila, 70km (43.5 miles) to the west.

‘Genocide is happening now’

Zakaria left el-Fasher in June 2024, during the siege, making the perilous journey through South Sudan to Uganda after his house was shelled and he witnessed a deadly attack that killed seven people, including women and children, near his grandfather’s home.

“It was like the hardest decision I have made in my life, to leave my city,” he said.

From Kampala, he continued monitoring the violence and advocating for people.

El-Fasher had appealed for intervention for more than 17 months, he said, while humanitarian organisations operated in Tawila, just three hours away by car.

“The time has passed for actions. The genocide is happening now,” he said.

Zakaria says more than 100 people he knows remain unaccounted for in el-Fasher.

He continues searching social media and calling contacts, hoping for information.

Study finds that rates soar to 90 percent in some regions as humanitarian crises compound childhood exploitation.

Nearly two-thirds of South Sudanese children are engaged in the worst forms of child labour, with rates reaching as high as 90 percent in the hardest-hit regions, according to a government study released with the charity Save the Children.

The National Child Labour Study, published on Friday, surveyed more than 418 households across seven states and found that 64 percent of children aged between five and 17 are trapped in forced labour, sexual exploitation, theft and conflict.

The findings reveal a crisis far more complex than poverty alone, intensified by relentless flooding, the spread of disease, and conflict that have uprooted families and left millions on the brink of hunger.

In Kapoeta South, near the border with Uganda, nine out of 10 children work in gold mining, pastoralism and farming instead of attending school, the report said.

Yambio region, the country’s southwest, recorded similarly dire rates, with local conflict and child marriage driving children into labour.

Children typically start with simple jobs before being drawn into increasingly dangerous and exploitative work, the report found. About 10 percent of those surveyed reported involvement with armed groups, particularly in Akobo, Bentiu and Kapoeta South counties.

The types of exploitation children face differ by gender. Boys are more likely to work in dangerous industries or join armed groups, while girls disproportionately face forced marriage, household servitude and sexual abuse.

‘A crisis that goes beyond poverty’

Knowing the law does not stop child exploitation, researchers found.

The surveys showed that 70 percent of children stuck in dangerous or illegal work lives came from homes with adults who were familiar with legal protections. Two-thirds of children were unaware that help existed.

“When nearly two-thirds of a country’s children are working – and in some areas, almost every child – it signals a crisis that goes beyond poverty,” said Chris Nyamandi, Save the Children’s South Sudan country director.

South Sudan’s child labour prevalence vastly exceeds regional patterns. While East Africa has the continent’s worst record at 30 percent, according to ILO-UNICEF data, South Sudan’s 64 percent is more than double that figure.

“Education remains the strongest protective factor,” Nyamandi said, noting that children who attend school are far less likely to be exploited.

The government acknowledged the crisis at the report’s launch in Juba. Deng Tong, undersecretary at the Ministry of Labour, said officials would use the evidence as a “critical foundation for action”.

The report comes as nearly one million people have been impacted by severe flooding across South Sudan, with 335,000 displaced and more than 140 health facilities damaged or submerged.

The country faces a related malaria outbreak with more than 104,000 cases reported in the past week, while 7.7 million people confront acute hunger, the United Nations said.

South Sudan has also been gripped by fears of renewed civil war. A fragile 2018 peace deal between President Salva Kiir and First Vice President Riek Machar appears increasingly strained, with armed clashes now occurring on a scale not seen since 2017, according to UN investigators.

Machar was arrested in March and charged in September with treason, murder and crimes against humanity. He has rejected all charges.

About 300,000 people have fled the country this year as violence has escalated.

Sudanese women who fled the city of el-Fasher say paramilitary Rapid Support Forces fighters killed, looted, and raped people during their escape. Now in Tawila, about 60km to the west, they face rain, hunger, and a growing cholera outbreak.

July 11 (UPI) — War crimes are likely being committed in Sudan, with rape and sexual violence being used as weapons, the International Criminal Court said in a report to the United Nations.

“There is an inescapable pattern of offending, targeting gender and ethnicity through rape and sexual violence,” ICC Deputy Prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan told U.N. ambassadors this week.

Khan said the ICC has “reasonable grounds to believe” both war crimes and crimes against humanity are being committed in the northeast African country, which has been plagued by an active civil war for approximately two years.

A team of ICC prosecutors is currently attempting to collect evidence of reported crimes in the Darfur Region in the western part of Sudan.

In February, U.N. officials called for $6 billion to help combat starvation and sexual violence in Sudan. A report at the time said “civilians are paying the highest price” in the country with a population of more than 50 million people.

Sudan’s military has been at war since April of 2023 with the Rapid Support Forces, a breakaway militant group run by Gen. Mohammad Hamdan Daglo Mousa. The conflict has seen millions of people displaced, with tens of thousands killed since the country’s then-President Omar al-Bashir was removed from office in a civilian coup.

The two sides have continued attacks against each other, with civilians often becoming collateral damage.

In March, Sudan’s military recaptured the presidential palace.

A month later, an RSF attack killed over 100 people in Darfur. Figures provided by U.N. officials at the time showed over 24,000 people had been killed in the conflict with more than 700,000 refugees from the Darfur region jammed into two camps.

In January, the United States sanctioned Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, accusing the leader of the Sudanese Armed Forces of undermining peace efforts.

Khan, this week, said the ICC has so far collected more than 7,000 pieces of evidence from refugee camps in neighbouring Chad. The prosecutor also called on the international community to “ensure there is no gap in our efforts to hold perpetrators accountable.”

The ICC was first given a mandate in 2002 by the U.N. Security Council to pursue war crimes in Darfur, with several subsequent investigations.

The World Food Programme has sounded an alarm, saying it may have to reduce its aid operations for Sudanese refugees because of cutbacks in its funding.

Four million refugees are in countries neighbouring Sudan after fleeing from the ongoing civil war, and most of them rely on aid.

But that was put in jeopardy after United States President Donald Trump’s administration slashed overseas aid budgets this year.

The European Union, the United Kingdom and Germany have also cut their foreign aid as some nations switch funding to invest in defence.

So who else can step in to fill the gap?

And what will happen to the people who depend on aid to survive?

Presenter: James Bays

Guests

• Carl Skau, World Food Programme’s deputy executive director and chief operating officer
• Alex de Waal, executive director of the World Peace Foundation
• Kholood Khair, political analyst and founding director at the Confluence Advisory think tank

The announcement marks the first time direct Libyan involvement in Sudan’s ongoing war has been alleged.

The Sudanese army has accused the forces of eastern Libyan military commander Khalifa Haftar of attacking Sudanese border posts, the first time it has accused its northwestern neighbour of direct involvement in the country’s civil war, now in its third year.

The war between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), whom the military also accused of joint involvement in the recent attack, has drawn in multiple countries, while international attempts at bringing about peace have so far failed.

Early in the war, Sudan had accused Haftar of supporting the RSF via weapons deliveries. It has long accused Haftar’s ally the United Arab Emirates of supporting the RSF as well, including via direct drone strikes last month. The UAE denies those allegations.

Egypt, which has also backed Haftar, has long supported the Sudanese army.

In a statement, Sudanese army spokesman Nabil Abdallah said the attack took place in the Libya-Egypt-Sudan border triangle, an area to the north of one of the war’s main front lines, el-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur.

He said the attack constitutes “a blatant aggression against Sudan”.

“We will defend our country and our national sovereignty, and will prevail, regardless of the extent of the conspiracy and aggression supported by the United Arab Emirates and its militias in the region,” Abdallah added.

Sudan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs accused the UAE of backing the assault, describing it as a “dangerous escalation” and a “flagrant violation of international law”.

“Sudan’s border with Libya has long served as a major corridor for weapons and mercenaries supporting the terrorist militia, funded by the UAE and coordinated by Haftar’s forces and affiliated terrorist groups,” it said in a statement.

There was no immediate response from Haftar’s forces.

The RSF has not issued an official statement, but a source within the group said that its fighters had taken control on Monday of the entrance to Jebel Uweinat, a remote mountain area that sits where the three countries meet, according to the AFP news agency.

Obeid hospital suffers severe damage in paramilitary assault, worsening health crisis in Sudan’s civil war.

At least six people have been killed in a suspected drone attack by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on a hospital in southern Sudan, the latest civilian facility targeted in the brutal civil war, officials and rights advocates have said.

The Emergency Lawyers, a rights group, blamed the RSF for the attack on Friday on the Obeid International Hospital, al-Dhaman, in Obeid, the capital city of North Kordofan province. At least 15 others were wounded in the attack, it said.

In a statement on social media, the hospital said the attack resulted in severe damage to its main building. Services at the hospital, the main medical facility serving the region, were suspended until further notice, it said.

A Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) source told the AFP news agency that the bombardment also hit a second hospital in the city centre.

The city is a key staging post on the army’s supply route to the west, where the besieged city of el-Fasher is the only state capital in the vast Darfur region still under the army-led government’s control.

El-Fasher has witnessed attritional fighting between SAF and RSF since May 2024, despite international warnings about the risks of violence in a city that serves as a key humanitarian hub for the five Darfur states.

Cholera outbreak

Adding to humanitarian woes on the ground, the Health Ministry in Khartoum state on Thursday reported 942 new cholera infections and 25 deaths the previous day, following 1,177 cases and 45 deaths the day before.

Aid workers say the effort to control the cholera outbreak is deteriorating due to the near-total collapse of health services, with about 90 percent of hospitals in key warzones no longer operational.

Since August 2024, Sudan has reported more than 65,000 suspected cholera cases and at least 1,700 deaths across 12 of its 18 states. Khartoum alone has seen 7,700 cases and 185 deaths, including more than 1,000 infections in children under five, as it contends with more than two years of fighting between the army and the RSF.

“Sudan urgently needs an increase in aid to help combat the cholera outbreak, hundreds of cases per day, which has even exceeded the more than 1000 cases per day,” Jean-Nicolas Armstrong Dangelser, Doctors Without Borders’s, known by its French initials MSF, emergency coordinator in Sudan, told Al Jazeera.

“This is only the tip of the iceberg, because nobody has the full picture at the moment, unfortunately,” Dangelser said.

Fighting in the al-Salha district, south of Ondurman, where there was a pocket of people sick with cholera, “greatly contributed” to the spread of the disease, said Dangelser. The army said on May 19 it had seized control of the al-Salha district, considered the last stronghold of the RSF in Khartoum State.

“Now it’s not just the returnees to Khartoum that are exacerbating the situation because of the devastated water system and the lack of healthcare, but it’s also now spreading to Darfur, where people have been displaced by fighting,” Dangelser added.

Violence and death follow Sudanese fleeing the war beyond their country’s borders. On Friday, 11 Sudanese refugees and a Libyan driver were killed in a car crash in the desert in Libya, according to local authorities.

Since fighting between the RSF and SAF broke out in April 2023, the UN has said 11 million people have been forced out of their homes, including 250,000 who have escaped into neighbouring Libya.

Tens of thousands have been killed in the civil war.