"We suffered greatly in el-Fasher," were the comments of one man who has fled the city as the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) declared control of it amid a civil war that has been raging in Sudan for over two years.

He is one of a number of people who have spoken with the BBC about their experiences in the war-torn country.

It comes as the United Nations raises concerns about the humanitarian situation and alleges that war crimes are being perpetrated on both sides of the conflict.

The war comes with an immeasurable human toll.

Residents of el-Fasher have described a news blackout from the city. Those who flee are struggling to contact loved ones. Some have seen their relatives killed in front of them.

"We are deeply worried... We don’t know what we can possibly do," a man with family in el-Fasher told the BBC earlier.

We'll be ending our live coverage shortly - but you can keep up to date with the situation in our news story.

One refugee from el-Fasher has told the Reuters news agency about what she witnessed when she fled the city.

A mother of three and a grandmother to one boy tells the outlet that they were running while RSF "were chasing us, they were firing missiles ahead and behind us."

She says she then lost sight of her husband.

The refugee and others were then caught. "They lined the men up, they said, 'We want the soldiers,'" she says.

But no-one put up their hands so some were picked out. "They shot them in front of us, they shot them in the street."

The women were then allowed to leave. "The soldiers told us to go ahead and the men will follow, but we never saw them again," she says.

The RSF has repeatedly denied claims that it is targeting civilians, despite allegations by the UN and other human rights agencies.

Earlier, we reported on findings from researchers in the US that show bodies piled en masse and red discolouration on the earth.

One of the team, Nathaniel Raymond, told the BBC that the "discolouration of the ground... [is] consistent with individuals who have bled out onto the ground."

Thomas van Linge, an independent Netherlands-based analyst, who has been tracking the progress of the war, has said on X, external that "never before [in 12 years working on these kinds of stories] have I read about there being so much blood it could be spotted by satellite. But that's now the reality in el-Fasher".

Responding on X, Raymond adds that he initially "couldn't believe" what he was seeing. "The horror, scale, and velocity of killing happening now unlike anything I’ve ever seen in a quarter century of doing this work."

A man who has been speaking to BBC Arabic's Middle East Daily radio programme says he "suffered greatly in el-Fasher" and was "eventually forced to flee".

However, he says there "was no transportation available - not even carts".

"At one point, we managed to find a horse-drawn carriage, and the driver promised to take us to safety, but he abandoned us before we reached our destination," he says.

"We walked for a long distance under terrible conditions," he adds.

Sylvain Penicaud, MSF project coordinator in Tawila city, North Darfur, has told the BBC that the MSF teams are "facing a massive influx of people" feeling from el-Fasher.

Speaking to the Sudan Lifeline radio programme, Penicaud says: "In recent days, more than 1,000 people have arrived at night, by several trucks and [on foot], after an extremely dangerous journey between [el-Fasher] and Tawila."

He says many were very weak and suffered from malnutrition and dehydration. A lot also had "violence-related injuries".

The team has screened 165 children under the age of five, Penicaud adds. He says that 75% were malnourished, with more than a quarter in "very severe" condition.

Penicaud says the local hospital is "overwhelmed" with the surgery team working at "full capacity".

"We remain very concerned for all of those who have not yet been able to leave [el-Fasher] and who might be trapped on the road. Many are still at risk of violence or [being] abused before they can reach Tawila safely."

BBC Arabic has heard from a woman who managed to flee from el-Fasher but has been struggling to contact anyone inside the city.

"We’ve reached a safer area, but there’s been absolutely no communication with anyone inside el-Fasher," she says.

"For more than 24 hours, we’ve been trying to contact people there, but there’s no connection at all," the woman says.

She says she's praying with all her will for the Sudanese army to repel the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) from the city and for a full civilian evacuation.

The UN's refugee agency, UNHCR, has said "serious violations of human rights law" have been taking place - with 26,000 people arriving in the town of Tawila in the last week.

The Reuters news agency has reported on comments made by the UNHCR's head of sub-office in Sudan - Jacqueline Wilma Parlevliet.

"The stories that we hear through my colleagues that are on the ground in Tawila providing protection services are horrendous and horrific," she says.

"Our new arrivals report of widespread ethnically and politically motivated killings, indiscriminate violence affecting particularly the most vulnerable. We have accounts of people with disabilities who were executed, who were killed as they were unable to flee.

"But we also hear of people who are trying to leave the city and managed to get out of the city, but on the way, they're caught up and they are also being shot for unknown reasons."

Parlevliet adds that there has been "huge destruction" of civilian infrastructure and private properties.

"This, in addition to the very serious violations of human rights law, it is of an extent that people have rarely seen in their long careers as humanitarian workers," she says.

Video shows RSF celebrating at key army base after capturing el-Fasherpublished at 14:48 GMT 28 October

14:48 GMT 28 October

By Kumar Malhotra and Peter Mwai

We’ve been looking at footage coming out of the city of el-Fasher for several days, after the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) claimed control of the city.

On Sunday, the RSF shared a number videos of fighters celebrating the capture of the Sudanese army’s 6th Division headquarters, which is located close to key government buildings in the heart of the capital of West Darfur.

We were able to match features in parts of these videos to buildings seen at the army base on Google Earth. In one video, the sign for the 6th Division is clearly visible and a symbol that matches images found on a Facebook page dedicated to this army unit.

In another clip showing the RSF fighters, the distinctive twin minarets of the Sultan Ali Dinar mosque - a major landmark in the city close to the base - were briefly visible in the background.

We also have reverse image searched multiple frames from the videos, which confirmed they were new. This was important to do because el-Fasher had been under siege for over 18 months before its capture, with the RSF claiming a variety of victories in that time.

More now from our BBC Arabic colleagues, who have heard from a man from el-Fasher who is concerned about the people who remain trapped in the city.

"Since the 25th of this month, there has been a complete blackout of news from el-Fasher," he says.

"Many of the wounded and injured remain trapped in the city. We are extremely worried," he adds.

He also says there has been a "blackout of news" in the city.

Mohamed Mohamed Othman
BBC News Arabic – Omdurman, Central Sudan

El-Fasher is the capital of northern Darfur, a region as large as France. It’s located over 800km (497 miles) west of Khartoum and about 195 km from Nyala, capital of South Darfur State.

The city became an important commercial hub, located at the centre of Darfur states, North Kordofan, Khartoum and the Northern state.

The city serves as the main entry point for aid convoys from Port Sudan before distribution across Darfur.

El-Fasher is home to diverse tribal and ethnic groups, mainly Zaghawa, Fur, and Masalit, many of whom live in displacement camps. Arab-origin tribes are fewer and mostly in South Darfur, controlled by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

It has been under siege by the RSF for over a year since fighting erupted between these forces and the army, with violent battles claiming hundreds of lives.

El-Fasher hosts many displacement camps. Some were established over two decades ago after Darfur’s civil war during former President Omar al-Bashir’s era, while new camps were set up after the current war, housing displaced people from other Darfur states taken over by the RSF.

In 2008, the UN-AU mission in Darfur (UNAMID) chose el-Fasher as its main base, boosting its status and urban development.

US-based researchers have been analysing images from the besieged city of el-Fasher.

They've described "piles of bodies executed en masse, or shot by snipers attempting to breach" the city's perimeter wall.

"We see clear evidence of house-to-house clearance operations, particularly in the Darajula neighbourhood near Saudi Hospital - with what appears to be piles of objects consistent with human remains between 1.5 to two metres in length," Nathaniel Raymond, executive director of Yale's Humanitarian Research Lab told BBC Newshour.

"In at least four cases, we see discolouration of the ground around these objects and the colour of the discolouration is red - we believe that's consistent with individuals who have bled out onto the ground."

The RSF has repeatedly denied allegations that it is harming civilians.

Videos confirm RSF have taken area in central Sudanpublished at 13:34 GMT 28 October

13:34 GMT 28 October

Image source, Telegram

By Richard Irvine-Brown and Sherie Ryder

We’ve been monitoring footage of fighters from the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) seizing control of another area in central Sudan.

Video posted online earlier this week shows the RSF celebrating its consolidation of the Um Dam Haj Ahmed area in North Kordofan province. It sits about 65km (40 miles) east of Barah, the easternmost major town under RSF control.

The RSF, which has been fighting a civil war with the Sudanese military for over two years, also seized control of North Darfur province’s capital el-Fasher over the weekend after laying siege to the key city for 18 months.

The new footage shows armed men in camouflage with several flatbed trucks cheering outside a local government building in Um Dam Haj Ahmed, which is around 610km (379 miles) to the east of el-Fasher.

We could geolocate the large open space it was filmed in by matching nearby pylons and half-buried tyres which marked out the local football pitch on satellite images.

The video was shared by RSF on their Telegram messaging app channel - and the RSF claim they have taken total control of Um Dam Haj Ahmed. Yesterday, Al Jazeera cited Sudanese military sources also saying the RSF had taken control of it.

Handwritten lists of what are said to be names of people who have managed to get out of el-Fasher to the town of Tawila are being circulated on social media.

"Please share it with anyone searching for their loved ones!" writes one person on X, aware that many are fearing for their relatives.

But only a tiny number of the estimated 260,000 residents of el-Fasher have reached Tawila - which is around 50km (31 miles) away.

A video from a local aid group in Tawila shows exhausted people sitting on the ground waiting to see what happens next.

"New arrivals report dangerous movements and horrific abuses [in el-Fasher]," Filippo Grandi, the head of the UN's refugee agency has said on X.

"I join those calling for respect of International Humanitarian Law, safe passage and most urgently a ceasefire to end the senseless Sudan conflict," he adds.

Trapped civilians are being refused safe passage out of el-Fasher, says the UN, and the lucky few who do escape are walking seven days to the nearest aid camp in many cases.

"These people are... malnourished - whether children or adults, dehydrated, some of them injured, and of course, all of them traumatised by the violence," Denise Brown, the UN’s Resident Coordinator for Sudan, tells BBC Newsday.

About 200 people arrived to Tawila, about 50km (31 miles) from el-Fasher on Sunday, she says.

Unarmed civilians stuck in el-Fasher have been subjected to summary executions, according to the humanitarian body.

"We don't yet know the numbers... this is all very very recent but we are following very closely. The RSF is responsible under international humanitarian law for protecting civilians," Brown tells the BBC. "This is on them and there will be further investigations and eventually people do need to be held accountable."

She says the country's only hope is to find a "political solution", adding:

"People need to get around the table. I don't know how much longer the people up there in North Darfur or in the Kordofans...can take and how much more we can actually do with our capacity and the very limited funding that we have."

Since the war broke out in April 2023, the UN has alleged that war crimes are being committed by the RSF and the army.

A report by the UN Fact-Finding Mission, external says both the Sudanese army and the RSF have directed large-scale attacks against civilians and vital infrastructure like food and water systems, healthcare centres and displacement camps.

The UN has alleged that the RSF is committing crimes against humanity, including murder, torture and sexual violence, among others. The militia is also accused of using "starvation as a weapon".

Separately, the US accused the RSF of committing genocide against Darfur's non-Arabic population earlier this year.

In April, between 300 and 1,500 civilians - mostly women and children were massacred at a displacement camp in western Darfur region.

Both the army and the RSF have denied the allegations.

Altahir Hashim says people all over the globe with relatives in Darfur are living a "profound sadness" as news of their loved ones' deaths comes in.

"Every single minute I would receive a phone call telling me that someone has got killed," he tells BBC Newsday.

On Monday, he was told that his close friend Muhammad Khamis Duda with whom he worked in community kitchens had been killed.

"He was taken prisoner and executed right there with a team of people who were working to aid people."

Altahir says it feels "like the world just ignores our suffering".

There have been several rounds of peace talks in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain - but they have failed.

BBC deputy Africa editor Anne Soy says that both sides, especially the army, have shown an unwillingness to agree to a ceasefire.

UN health chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has also lamented that there is less global interest in the conflict in Sudan, and other recent conflicts in Africa, compared to crises elsewhere in the world.

"I think race is in the play here," he told the BBC in September 2024.

The International Crisis Group (ICG) think-tank has called diplomatic efforts to end the war "lacklustre", while Amnesty International has labelled the world's response "woefully inadequate".

Humanitarian work has also been badly affected by the decision of the Trump administration to cut aid.

"We’ve witnessed many of our relatives being massacred," one man who's lost contact with family members in el-Fasher tells BBC Arabic

He says they were gathered in one place and killed following the capture of the city.

Communication has been "completely cut off" in North Darfur State, the resident says, so he has no idea what has happened to family members who are still alive.

As a reminder, the UN has raised the alarm over reports of atrocities committed by the Rapid Support Forces in recent days, but the RSF denies killing civilians.

Image source, Reuters

The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) was formed in 2013 and has its origins in the notorious Janjaweed militia that brutally fought rebels in Darfur, where they were accused of genocide and ethnic cleansing against the region's non-Arab population.

Since then, its leader, Gen Dagalo, has built a powerful force that has intervened in conflicts in Yemen and Libya.

He also controls some of Sudan's gold mines, and allegedly smuggles the metal to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The army accuses the UAE of backing the RSF, and carrying out drone strikes in Sudan. The oil-rich Gulf state denies the allegation.

The army also accuses eastern Libyan strongman Gen Khalifa Haftar of supporting the RSF by helping it to smuggle weapons into Sudan, and sending fighters to bolster the RSF.

In early June 2025, the RSF achieved a major victory when it took control of territory along Sudan's border with Libya and Egypt.

With el-Fasher now in its hands, the paramilitary group is now unchallenged in much of Darfur and lso in neighbouring Kordofan region.

In July it formed a rival government, raising fears that Sudan could split for a second time - South Sudan seceded in 2011, taking with it most of the country's oil fields.

Barbara Plett Usher
Reporting from Nairobi

At the BBC in Nairobi, we’ve been covering the battle for control of el-Fasher since it began - monitoring it remotely, getting footage and interviews from brave local journalists in the city.

Inevitably that means we’re on WhatsApp chat groups with reporters and activists who are closely following the story.

Those chats have become a waking nightmare, with posts about members taken captive and even killed.

Some friends are finding out their loved ones are dead through videos of executions on social media.