Fears for trapped civilians in El-Fasher as fighting flares
DARFUR
The army-aligned governor of Sudan's Darfur region called for the protection of civilians in the stricken city of El-Fasher Monday, after paramilitaries claimed to have seized it following a brutal 18-month siege.
Pro-democracy activists reported fighting "in the vicinity of El-Fasher airport and several areas west of the city."
The group, known as a local resistance committee, said in a statement there was a "complete absence of air support" to protect residents.
The Rapid Support Forces said on Oct. 26 they had captured the city, the last state capital in the vast Darfur region yet to fall to the paramilitaries.
Communications remain cut across the city, including satellite networks, leaving El-Fasher in a "media blackout," according to the Sudanese Journalists' Syndicate.
The United Nations's migration agency said 2,500 to 3,000 people fled El-Fasher on Oct. 26, seeking safety within the city or westward to Tawila and Mellit towns.
Darfur governor Minni Minnawi, who is allied with the Sudanese army, on Monday called for the "protection of civilians" and "an independent investigation into the violations and massacres carried out by the militia away from public view," referring to the RSF.
Sudan's de facto leader, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, appeared publicly on Oct. 25 night but only for a meeting with the Turkish ambassador in Port Sudan.
The army-led Transitional Sovereignty Council said they discussed the "siege imposed by the terrorist Rapid Support militia on El-Fasher."
Tom Fletcher, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), called for safe passage for civilians trapped in the fighting.
