Heavy fighting on Saturday shook a Sudanese city besieged by paramilitaries as US researchers reported unprecedented and escalating combat in the North Darfur state capital.
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El-Fasher is one of five state capitals in Sudan’s western Darfur region and the only one not in the hands of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), who have been battling the regular army since April 2023.
The United Nations says the war across much of Sudan has created the world’s largest displacement crisis, with millions uprooted, and has led to famine at a displacement camp near El-Fasher.
Darfur has seen some of the war’s worst atrocities, and the RSF has besieged El-Fasher since May.
“Neighbourhoods are completely deserted and all you can hear are explosions and missiles,” said local Ibrahim Ishaq, 52.