The United Nations has voiced deep alarm over the worsening crisis in Sudan’s Darfur region after a drone strike on Friday killed more than 70 people during dawn prayers in El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur. The attack, one of the deadliest since the conflict began, struck worshippers gathered at Al-Safiya Mosque, leaving scores dead, including children.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres condemned the assault and called for an urgent ceasefire. “The fighting must stop now,” he said in a statement released Saturday, urging the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to resume negotiations and allow safe humanitarian access.
El-Fasher has been under siege for more than a year as the RSF intensifies efforts to seize the city, the SAF’s last major stronghold in Darfur. Aid agencies warn that hundreds of thousands of civilians are trapped, facing severe shortages of food, medicine, and other essentials. UNICEF estimated in late August that some 600,000 people had been displaced from the city.
Military officials reported that RSF fighters continued drone attacks and heavy shelling over the weekend, describing the strikes as some of the most intense El-Fasher has endured. Civilians attempting to flee have reported assaults by RSF forces on routes leading to nearby refugee camps.
The war between the SAF and RSF, now in its third year, has devastated Sudan, killing thousands and displacing millions nationwide. The UN has described the humanitarian crisis as the world’s worst, warning that without urgent action, conditions in El-Fasher could deteriorate even further.
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