RSF capture of al-Fashir fuels fears of Sudan’s split and civilian crisis

A ceiling damaged by shelling shrapnel at a displaced persons center in El Fasher, Sudan, October 7, 2025.

Photo credit: Reuters

A Sudanese paramilitary force is battling the last pockets of resistance in a Darfur city that has endured a brutal 18-month siege and where a full takeover would entrench a geographical division of the country between rival military factions.

The advance by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has also raised fears of reprisals against the estimated 250,000 people remaining in al-Fashir, the final holdout of the Sudanese army in the western Darfur region, and of an escalation of fighting elsewhere in Sudan.