Khartoum –As the Sudanese army moves closer to retaking the city of Al-Khuwei in West Kordofan, it accused the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on Thursday of targeting families fleeing from El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur State, assaulting women, and looting property. Meanwhile, Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders, MSF) expressed fears of a repeat of ethnically motivated massacres in the city, which is witnessing fierce battles.
Artillery Shelling
The army’s Sixth Infantry Division stated that RSF forces carried out artillery shelling targeting the city, noting an escalation in heavy artillery attacks over the past three days. The attacks targeted residential neighborhoods and areas where civilians gather, resulting in deaths and injuries. The victims were transported to hospitals and medical centers for treatment.
The army accused the RSF of targeting families fleeing the city toward the Qurni area, assaulting women, looting their property, and depriving children of drinking water.
Resistance committees in El Fasher warned of the dangerous situation and the consequences of delayed military reinforcements for the besieged city. They said, “Lifting the siege on El Fasher is no longer just a humanitarian demand but has become an urgent political, security, and national necessity. All indicators on the ground show there is no truce, no humanitarian corridors, and no genuine intentions to end the suffering.”
They pointed out that the RSF has closed all doors to negotiation and even rejected the initiative of UN Secretary-General António Guterres with flimsy pretexts, such as the claim that the city is no longer inhabited by civilians—an assertion they warned is untrue.
They noted that tens of thousands of innocent people are trapped under siege, suffering from shortages of food and medicine amid official silence unbecoming of a state expected to protect its people.
The committees stressed that the government’s response must be decisive, emphasizing that the situation in the city can no longer tolerate procrastination after all peaceful solutions have failed.
They warned that time is no longer on anyone’s side, adding, “It is time for the state to act with whatever strength and legitimacy it has left and to fight its real battle: the battle to restore sovereignty and protect civilians through organized military intervention.”
They considered that the military option is the only remaining choice—not just to save El Fasher, but to save what remains of the Sudanese state.
El Fasher is under a tight siege by the RSF, which seeks to capture the city—considered the army’s last stronghold in Darfur—and declare a parallel government there. There are warnings that this step could pave the way for the country’s division.
The resistance committees considered the delay in lifting the siege on the city “a failure by the authorities to protect a major city like El Fasher,” adding, “When you leave it to the militia, you are voluntarily abandoning one of the pillars of the Sudanese state’s survival.”
They continued: “Sudan, with all its fragility, cannot withstand another fall, nor further symbolic or geographical collapses.” They noted that El Fasher is not just a site of military attrition, but rather the last line of defense for the country’s unity, the idea of the state, and what remains of hope in a unifying national project.
MSF Fears Massacres … Army Nears Recapture of a West Kordofan City
The political and military leadership was called upon to “realize that waiting is treason, delay is complicity, and hesitation is partnership in the crime,” adding, “The people of El Fasher will continue to resist and defend the country to the last breath, and we will not leave our land.”
Observers fear bloody events if the RSF storms El Fasher, as the city’s residents insist on staying, while “Hemedti’s” forces threaten to invade. Army units remain engaged in battles in Kordofan states, trying to open the road to El Fasher.
Events are accelerating in El Fasher amid fears and warnings of imminent mass atrocities and calls to stop the violence and siege, as tens of thousands of besieged civilians suffer increasingly.
In this context, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) expressed deep concern about threats of a full-scale attack on El Fasher by the RSF, warning of a repeat of the mass atrocities seen in other parts of Sudan.
MSF humanitarian advisor Mathilde Simon pointed to fears of a repeat of the ethnically motivated massacres that occurred in West Darfur in 2023, calling for an immediate end to the violence.
In a report titled “Trapped and Starving Under Attack: Mass Atrocities in El Fasher and Zamzam in Sudan,” the organization confirmed that civilians have borne the brunt since the siege of El Fasher began in May 2024, noting a systematic pattern of violence including mass killings, sexual violence, starvation, looting, and attacks on markets and health facilities.
The report revealed that the RSF and its allies launched a major ground attack on the Zamzam IDP camp last April, leading to the displacement of about 400,000 people in less than three weeks and worsening the humanitarian crisis inside besieged El Fasher. Witnesses reported that RSF members spoke of their intentions to “cleanse El Fasher of non-Arabs,” as the ongoing siege has caused a complete halt to humanitarian activities and a cut-off of food, water, and medical care.
The organization added that it was forced to suspend its medical activities in El Fasher since August 2024 and in Zamzam since February 2025 due to repeated attacks on health facilities, which were targeted more than seven times in May alone.
MSF called on all parties to the conflict to respect international humanitarian law, facilitate the safe passage of civilians, and immediately stop all forms of ethnic violence.
“Successful” Ambush
Meanwhile, military sources told Al-Quds Al-Arabi that the army is close to retaking the city of Al-Khuwei in West Kordofan State.
They reported that the armed forces executed what they described as a “successful” ambush around the city, inflicting losses in lives and equipment on the RSF.
On May 3, the RSF stormed Al-Khuwei, resulting in the deaths and targeting of dozens of unarmed residents. A week later, the army recaptured the city, which soon fell again to the RSF, and battles continue to rage around it.
Al-Khuwei is about 100 kilometers from El-Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan State, which has been under siege for months. The city serves as an extension of the RSF supply corridor from Darfur through Kordofan and other central states to the capital, Khartoum.
Amid the escalating battles in Al-Khuwei, dozens of families continue to flee to El-Obeid in North Kordofan.
With the intensification of fighting in Kordofan and Darfur states, the RSF has tightened its security grip in its areas of influence and contact zones, accusing citizens of collaborating with the army or belonging to the National Congress Party—the ruling party during the era of former President Omar al-Bashir.
