El-Fasher, the capital of Sudan’s North Darfur region, has been mostly destroyed and depopulated since Rapid Support Forces fighters seized the city after months of siege, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said Wednesday.
In a statement published on its website, the medical aid group said it was recently granted limited access to el-Fasher to assess the situation of civilians and health facilities, marking its first visit to the city since it suspended operations there in August 2024.
MSF said its team spent four hours in the city on Jan. 15 under constant supervision by security officials, describing vast areas of destruction and neighborhoods largely abandoned.
"The city now resembles a ghost town," it said, adding that only a small number of civilians appeared to have remained or returned after the RSF seized control last October.
MSF teams went to two displacement sites hosting mostly women, children and the elderly. In health facilities, they encountered around 20 male patients suffering from old injuries and reiterated their readiness to support referrals for patients in need of surgery to MSF projects with surgical capacity elsewhere.
