Darfur Government: Situation in El-Fashir Catastrophic as Mass Executions Continue

 

The Darfur Regional Government told Al Arabiya and Al Hadath on Saturday that the situation in El-Fashir is catastrophic, with mass executions continuing, adding that the fate of tens of thousands of civilians remains unknown.

 

 

Meanwhile, Al Arabiya and Al Hadath correspondents reported continued displacement from the city of Bara to El-Obeid in North Kordofan.

 

 

Sources also confirmed that the Sudanese Armed Forces targeted militia positions in West Kordofan.

 

 

Earlier, the Darfur Displaced Persons (IDPs) Coordination told Al Arabiya and Al Hadath that the international community must pressure both parties to agree to an immediate ceasefire, warning of an escalating humanitarian disaster in the region. It said that more than 36,000 people have fled El-Fashir in recent days and are in urgent need of food and humanitarian assistance.

 

 

The coordination added that the humanitarian situation has spiraled out of control amid the absence of protection and severe shortages of supplies, calling for the establishment of safe corridors to deliver aid to civilians.

 

Witnesses and medics reported that militia fighters gathered dozens of men near El-Fashir and shot them after taking them to a water reservoir. One survivor was reportedly spared after being recognized by one of the gunmen.

 

Other accounts said the militia separated men from women in nearby villages and took them to unknown locations, raising fears of ethnically motivated mass executions.

 

 

The United Kingdom described the reports coming from Darfur as “horrifying,” citing atrocities and mass killings.

 

British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper on Saturday called for an immediate ceasefire in Sudan’s war, describing the situation as “grim and terrifying” following the militia’s capture of the last major city in Darfur.

 

 

Meanwhile, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) urged the international community to intervene to stop the bloodshed in El-Fashir, saying the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) Militia and its allies are preventing civilians from leaving the city. MSF warned that large numbers of civilians remain in imminent danger.

 

 

In a related development, the Sudanese Doctors Network announced the arrival of 642 IDPs from El-Fashir to the town of Al-Dabba in Northern State.

 

 

In a press statement Saturday, the network said it was “deeply concerned by the growing wave of displacement from El-Fashir,” noting that 642 people had reached Northern State in recent hours after a perilous journey escaping the massacres committed by the militia in the city.