Massacre in Sudan. The latest reports are chilling
This is one of those wars that almost no one talks about, but which has already caused unimaginable suffering. In about two and a half years over 150,000 people lost their lives. Sudanese. Nobody knows the exact number of victims.
— The death toll is underestimated rather than overestimated, geopolitics expert Joshua Meservey warns in an interview with Bild. Also, reports of a hospital massacre in the city of Al-Fashir (Darfur region) could not initially be independently verified.
But now the accused militia, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), has indirectly admitted responsibility for the crime for the first time. Its forces “arrested a number of people” from its own ranks who were allegedly involved in “abuse during the liberation of Al-Fashir.” They were supposed to be the victims of the massacre first and foremost members of non-Arabic-speaking minorities in this country.
The fact is that “an actual situation has now occurred in Sudan division of the country” – explains political scientist Prof. Dr. Volker Perthes to Bild. After occupying the city of Al-Fashir, the RSF militia now controls almost the entire Darfur region. Most of its fighters also come from there.
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A bloody moment
The north and (largely) the east of the country are under the control of the Sudanese army commanded by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan. During the summer, RSF members had to withdraw from the capital Khartoum, suffering losses in clashes with the army.
This means that the main parties to the conflict achieved victories, but at the same time suffered painful defeats. — Both sides now want to control the entire country – says Dr. Gerrit Kurtz from the Science and Policy Foundation. RSF military leaders announced a “march to the Red Sea” (the army has its actual government headquarters in Port Sudan). The army also said it had no intention of surrendering.
After all, will the hour of diplomacy soon come? The United States, under the leadership of President Donald Trump, in particular, is expected to put pressure on this cease-fire. The United Arab Emirates (as the most important supporter of the RSF), Egypt (on the side of the army) and Saudi Arabia also mediate between the RSF and government forces. Joshua Meservey, however, remains skeptical.
— Recently, the Emirates have further increased their support for the RSF, says the expert.
Fierce fighting
On Monday, October 27, the commander of Al-Burhan announced the withdrawal of government troops from the city of Al-Fashir, the last point of resistance of government forces in the west of the country. The general explained that the decision to leave the city was made in response to the escalating situation acts of violence against civilians. Thus, the army wanted to protect the inhabitants and the city itself from further destruction.
According to the BBC, after the withdrawal of government troops, the RSF immediately entered the city and have been fighting the government for months. Thus, the residents remaining in Al-Fashir were deprived of the opportunity to escape.
Displaced residents of Al-Fashir, Sudan, November 1, 2025.Stringer/AFP
On Wednesday, October 29, the Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, announced that over 460 people were murdered in the maternity hospital in Al-Fashir – patients, their relatives and medical staff.
Decades of war
Darfur is the center of the civil war that has been going on in Sudan since April 2023. The region is almost entirely controlled by the Rapid Support Force. Al-Fashir remained the last stronghold of the other side – government troops.
According to the August UNICEF report, over 600,000 people fled the city and surrounding areas during the blockade. people, half of whom are children. Those who remain are starving. Over 1 thousand children were killed or injured by shelling, many were victims of sexual violence, kidnapping and forced recruitment into armed groups.
At the same time, the largest cholera epidemic in decades broke out in the region. From July 2024 to August 2025, over 96,000 were recorded. cases and 2.4 thousand deaths.
The civil war in Sudan has been going on continuously since at least 1956, when the country gained independence from Great Britain and Egypt, writes the independent Russian website Meduza. The majority of the population is Arab Muslims, but there are also significant non-Arab and non-Muslim groups in the country – no regime has managed to ensure their peaceful coexistence.
