An unfolding crisis in the Darfuri city of El Fashir is the latest chapter in a Sudanese civil war in which civilians have been caught in the crossfire.

Since the end of October, the Sudanese city of El Fashir has been the subject of countless headlines and chyrons across the world. This city of approximately 1.5 million people had been surrounded since May 2024 by a paramilitary force seeking to capture the last remaining major base held by government military forces in Sudan’s Darfur region. The siege, which lasted more than 500 days, trapped an estimated 260,000 civilians in the city, cutting them off from food, medical care, and humanitarian assistance. 

The paramilitary forces finally seized control of El Fashir on October 26, effectively consolidating their control of the entire Darfur region. As they seized control of the city, combatants carried out gross atrocities including “summary executions, mass killings, rapes, attacks against humanitarian workers, looting, abductions and forced displacement.” Satellite imagery analysis documented evidence of mass killings, including what appear to be large pools of blood. Invisible Children, which has worked  in Darfur since 2021, is working with local partners to monitor the flow of displaced persons to nearby Tawila. However, analysis indicates that much of the civilian population of El Fashir is trapped, dead, or still hiding in place. While a humanitarian response is ramping up in Tawila, El Fashir still remains inaccessible and it is impossible to know the full-scale of the atrocities there. 

An unfolding crisis

The war can be traced back to April 2019, when civilian protests toppled the regime of Omar al Bashir, who had ruled Sudan for more than thirty years. After his ousting, a transitional government was established in August 2019, with a power-sharing agreement between the military and civil society. The transitional government was intended to provide an interim period to prepare for democratic elections. However, on October 25, 2021, the military dissolved the transitional government and seized control of Sudan, sparking a tug-of-war between the top military general and the leader of the paramilitary forces, as both sides sought power and the paramilitary forces resisted integration into the military. On April 15, 2023, fighting broke out between the groups in Khartoum and quickly spread into other parts of the country.

Both sides turned to tribal militias and armed groups to seek alliances with proxy forces. These alliances exacerbated simmering ethnic tensions and fueled growing intercommunal violence. In Darfur, tribal militias were heavily armed, while operating outside of any formal command structure, leading to heightened ethnic violence. Notably, paramilitary forces committed mass atrocities against the Massalit tribe in West Darfur in November 2024 in which hundreds of people were killed. 

Civilians have been caught in the middle of the conflict, facing indiscriminate violence, targeted killings, and atrocities. It remains impossible to quantify the full impact of the conflict on civilians, as communication networks have been cut-off throughout the country, support services such as hospitals have been shut down, and secure humanitarian access remains a challenge. The total number of civilian fatalities is estimated to be in the tens of thousands. Rape and sexual violence has been widely perpetrated in the conflict, with 12.1 million people at risk of gender-based violence (GBV). The collapse of support services due to the conflict creates severe access constraints for survivors of GBV, with less than 10% of those in need having access to adequate support. According to the UNHCR, as of November 2025 more than 11,769,000 people have been forcibly displaced due to the conflict, including more than four million people who have been displaced outside of the country. 

More than 6,000 Sudanese have fled into the neighboring Central African Republic (CAR), where Invisible Children has implemented programs for nearly 12 years. Sudanese refugees have fled hundreds of kilometers into CAR, reaching its southeast border. However, CAR’s limited infrastructure and resources have severely constrained the humanitarian response. The porous border between Sudan and CAR has enabled armed groups to freely move between the two countries in order to traffic illicit goods and conduct opportunistic lootings and attacks in CAR. In recent months, abuses by Sudanese armed groups in northeastern CAR have raised tensions within local communities, threatening regional stability and security.

As the situation in Darfur and neighboring areas of CAR rapidly evolves, Invisible Children will be monitoring developments closely and we continue to work together with our frontline partners in the region to support vulnerable civilians impacted by the conflict.