A child whose family fled violence perpetrated by the Rapid Support Forces in El Fasher receives treatment at a displacement camp.
scarlot harlot – The Sudan civil war has reached a devastating new stage. United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has issued a stark warning: the conflict is “spiralling out of control.” This dire assessment comes as the world grapples with a humanitarian crisis in Sudan, one the UN itself calls one of the worst of the 21st century. The immediate trigger for this global alarm is the fall of El Fasher. The capital city of North Darfur fell to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) last week after a brutal and suffocating 18-month siege. What is unfolding is a catastrophe that demands global attention, not silence.
The fall of El Fasher is not just a strategic military loss. It is a full-blown humanitarian disaster. Hundreds of thousands of civilians were trapped in the city during the siege. Now, they are at the mercy of the occupying forces. The reports emerging from the city are horrifying. RSF troops have reportedly posted videos of themselves executing civilians. In an act of extreme brutality, shootings were even reported inside El Fasher’s maternity hospital. This is a flagrant violation of international law. As a result, the International Criminal Court (ICC) confirmed on Monday that it is actively collecting evidence of alleged mass killings, rape, and other war crimes.
Speaking from the World Summit for Social Development in Qatar, António Guterres did not mince words. “El Fasher and the surrounding areas in North Darfur have been an epicentre of suffering, hunger, violence and displacement,” he said. “And since the Rapid Support Forces entered El Fasher last weekend, the situation is growing worse by the day.” Guterres made it clear: “People are dying of malnutrition, disease and violence.”
To understand the full scale of the Sudan civil war, we must look at the data. This two-year conflict is responsible for a staggering human toll.
Amid this horror, international calls for peace feel weak. Guterres has urged the warring parties to “come to the negotiating table, bring an end to this nightmare of violence – now.” The United States, alongside Egypt, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia, has been trying to broker a peace plan since September. This plan involves a three-month humanitarian pause, a permanent ceasefire, and a nine-month transition to a civilian-led government. The hope was that global attention would force the parties to negotiate. However, these efforts are failing. The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), based in Port Sudan, have shown “strong resistance” to the US-backed plan. The SAF insists that any ceasefire must be conditional on the RSF withdrawing from all cities, including El Fasher. This is a condition the RSF will likely not meet.
Sudan’s Ambassador to the UK, Babikir Elamin, explained the grim reality. He argued that the priority is not talks, but stopping the immediate atrocities. “What is the reason for getting engaged in talks while they are still committing these kind of atrocities?” he asked. “Before we can discuss the kind of proposal, the international community should show some kind of seriousness… The priority now must be to stop the atrocities and this kind of genocide.”
The Sudan civil war is not just an internal conflict. It is a complex proxy war. The RSF is widely reported to be heavily backed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While the UAE denies this, Sudan’s own ambassador is now publicly calling for sanctions. Ambassador Elamin has called on Washington to designate the RSF as a terrorist organization. He also demanded a ban on all arms sales to the UAE. He painted a terrifying picture of the RSF’s intent. “They are proudly making videos of themselves murdering innocent civilians,” Elamin stated. “[They] have named the cities, the communities and the ethnic groups they are targeting.”
António Guterres’s warning is a final, desperate plea to a world that has been dangerously silent on the Sudan civil war. The crisis in Sudan is a stain on our collective conscience. As diplomats debate the details of peace plans, real people are dying from bullets, starvation, and disease. The fall of El Fasher proves that mass atrocities are not a thing of the past. They are happening right now, in 2025. The question is no longer if the world will act, but why it hasn’t already.
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