Fasher Crisis: The Sudanese Army Announces a Plan to Lift the Siege

In a new field development, the Sudanese Armed Forces announced their intention to lift the siege imposed on the city of Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, which has been under a suffocating siege by the Rapid Support Forces since last April.

The forces stated in a brief statement: "We will lift the siege of Fasher," at a time when warnings about the unprecedented deterioration of the humanitarian situation in the city are increasing.

This announcement was accompanied by rising voices calling for urgent intervention, as political forces and Sudanese resistance committees called for the opening of humanitarian corridors to deliver food, water, medicine, and fuel to the city, emphasizing the need for an immediate ceasefire and the withdrawal of the Rapid Support Forces from the vicinity of Fasher.

The joint statement of these forces described the siege as a war crime and a crime against humanity, holding the Rapid Support Forces responsible for the killings, starvation, and targeting of civilians and health and service facilities.

For more than a year, the city of Fasher has been continuously besieged, and with the escalation of attacks in recent days, none of the international efforts have resulted in a humanitarian truce.

The residents of the city are living in tragic conditions, as health services have completely collapsed, basic food supplies have run out, and there is a lack of clean drinking water, making famine loom on the horizon.

The governor of North Darfur stated that the humanitarian situation is unbearable and worsens day by day, while the city remains akin to a ghost town amidst the ruins of war.

This comes within the framework of the ongoing conflict between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces since mid-April 2023, a bloody conflict that has left more than 20,000 dead according to the United Nations, and about 15 million displaced and refugees, while estimates from an American academic suggest that the death toll could reach 130,000.