Sadly, grimly, but unsurprisingly, the fears of atrocities envisaged in the Sudanese city of El-Fasher, in the western region of Darfur, were realised once the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group finally overran the besieged hold-out in 2025. There are now similar fears of atrocities envisaged in the Sudanese city of El-Obeid, which, like El-Fasher, is besieged by the RSF and struggling to hold out.
Observers broadly agree that the RSF assault on El-Fasher was the most brutal episode of Sudan’s three-year war, but El-Obeid has now endured a similar siege for more than two months, and the paramilitary group’s encirclement of this strategic city continues. The RSF has warned residents of the consequences of remaining there. The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) has shown its resolve in defending El-Obeid, but the pattern now looks worryingly familiar.
El-Obeid is home to nearly one million civilians, around a third of whom have already been displaced from other cities ravaged by war. The city forms a vital bridge between central Sudan, with routes leading north and east, and the western regions of Darfur and Kordofan. Its position at the heart of the country has made it a major commercial corridor linking the agricultural production centres of the west with the industrial regions of central and northern Sudan.
