New satellite analysis shows that Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are constructing a vast earthen barrier around the city of El-Fasher, deepening concerns for civilians trapped under siege conditions.
Research from Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL) indicates that more than 31km of berms — raised earth walls — have been built since May in areas surrounding the city. El-Fasher, home to around 300,000 people, remains the Sudanese army’s last stronghold in Darfur after more than a year of conflict.
The HRL said the berms appear designed to cut off movement of people and supplies, describing the development as creating a “kill box” around the city. Humanitarian groups warn that the fortifications further restrict access to food, medicine, and aid, worsening already dire living conditions.
Local doctors report heavy shelling in recent days, including an attack on the city’s main market and a hospital, which killed dozens of civilians and injured many more. Survivors describe the situation as “choosing between a slow death by hunger or the risk of being killed while trying to escape.”
The RSF, which has denied previous accusations of ethnic targeting, is accused of deliberately attacking non-Arab communities and forcibly blocking civilians from leaving. Satellite evidence also suggests that villages such as Alsen, west of the city, were destroyed during construction of the berm.
If El-Fasher falls, analysts warn, the RSF would have full control of Darfur — a shift that could entrench partition between areas held by the RSF and those controlled by the army, each of which has appointed its own rival administration.
Former officials and civil society leaders have appealed to the UN Security Council to intervene, stressing that civilians in El-Fasher are bearing the brunt of the escalating siege.