EL-FASHER, Sudan — A BBC investigation published Friday says Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces systematically destroyed el-Fasher’s healthcare system during their long siege and takeover of the Darfur city a year ago.
Using sources on the ground, the BBC documented at least 43 separate attacks on hospitals and health sites between May 2024 and October 2025, some hit multiple times. Its data show 55 medical workers killed, 120 injured and 10 forcibly disappeared or abducted in the city from April 2023 to October 2025.
UN human rights chief Volker Türk called the findings “deeply disturbing,” saying repeated RSF attacks on civilian infrastructure, including health facilities, were serious violations of international humanitarian law and may amount to war crimes. The World Health Organization called el-Fasher “one of the clearest and most severe examples” of the war’s toll on health care in Sudan.
“It was intense. It was deliberate. It was planned,” said Dr. Muhamed Suliman, a surgeon who worked in el-Fasher during the siege. Dr. Alaa Eldin Nugud, health minister of the RSF-affiliated civilian government, dismissed the allegations as propaganda by the army and its allies.
Both sides in the civil war that began in April 2023 have been accused of attacking health facilities; the WHO condemned a March 2026 bombing of al-Daein hospital in RSF-held East Darfur that Sudan’s military is believed to have carried out, which it denies.
Sources: BBC News
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