Image used for representational purposes only.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto

“Attacks targeting United Nations peacekeepers may constitute war crimes under international law,” said Mr. Guterres, who called for those responsible for the “unjustifiable” attack to be held accountable.
| Photo Credit: AP

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk.
| Photo Credit: AP

Smoke billows after drone strikes by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) targeted the northern port in the Red Sea city of Port Sudan, Sudan.
| Photo Credit: AP

An end to fighting in Sudan still seems far off despite the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, fighting the army for more than two years, endorsing a truce proposal.

The government, backed by the army, has yet to respond to US-led international mediators, and explosions rocked the army-controlled capital Khartoum on Friday (November 7, 2025).

Experts express doubt about whether the RSF is truly ready to implement a truce, and warn it is in fact preparing an offensive to capture city of el-Obeid in the south.

But the conflict may nevertheless be at a turning point.

Fighting has raged since April 2023, pitting the forces of army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan against those of his former deputy, RSF commander Mohammed Hamdan Daglo.

The United Arab Emirates is accused by the United Nations of supplying arms to the RSF, allegations it has repeatedly denied.

The Sudanese army, meanwhile, has received support from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Iran, according to observers.

Now, the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt are backing a proposed ceasefire.

Here is what we know after two years and almost seven months of a war that has killed tens of thousands, displaced nearly 12 million and triggered a hunger crisis

RSF victory in Darfur

Less than two weeks ago the RSF captured El-Fasher, the army’s last major stronghold in western Darfur.

The takeover was accompanied by reports of mass killings, sexual violence and looting, triggering international condemnation.

There are now fears of further atrocities as the conflict shifts east toward Khartoum and the oil-rich Kordofan region.

Under international pressure, the RSF now says it is ready to consider a ceasefire, but the army has not responded and observers are unconvinced.

“Its only intent is to distract from the atrocities it is currently committing in El Fasher and position itself as more responsible than the army,” Cameron Hudson of the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies told AFP.

The army, he said, is now “focused on retaking all of Kordofan and then proceeding on to El-Fasher”.

El-Fasher’s fall has given the paramilitaries control over all five state capitals in Darfur and parts of the south while the army now dominates northern, eastern and central areas along the Nile and Red Sea.

“The RSF, now that they control all of Darfur, has an incentive to try to bring food and assistance into areas under their control, but the army has an incentive to not allow the RSF to consolidate its gains,” Mr. Hudson said.

No details of the ceasefire proposal have been made public, but a senior Saudi official told AFP that it calls for a “three-month truce”, during which both sides would be encouraged to hold talks in Jeddah on a permanent peace deal.

New explosions

On Friday (November 7), one day after RSF responded positively to the ceasefire idea, explosions were heard in Khartoum and in Atbara, an army-held city around 300 kilometres (186 miles) north of Khartoum, according to witnesses who spoke to AFP.

Khartoum has seen relative calm since the regular army regained control this year, but the RSF continues to mount attacks in several regions.

A resident in Omdurman, part of the greater Khartoum area, told AFP on condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisal, he was awoken “around 2 am (0000 GMT) by the sound of … explosions near the Wadi Sayidna military base”.

Another resident said they “heard a drone overhead around 4:00 a.m. before an explosion struck near” a power station, causing an outage in the area.

In Atbara a resident saw several drones before dawn on Friday (November 7).

“Anti-aircraft defences shot them down, but I saw fires breaking out and heard sounds of explosions in the east of the city,” the resident said, also on condition of anonymity.

There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Neither the army nor the RSF commented on the blasts, though the RSF has been using long-range drones to strike army-held areas since it lost control of the capital.

Fighting in Kordofan

In the south, the Sudan Doctors’ Union accused the RSF of shelling a hospital in the besieged city of Dilling in South Kordofan on Thursday morning (November 6), wounding several people.

In a statement, the union said that the shelling “destroyed the hospital’s radiology and medical imaging department”, crippling one of the region’s vital health facilities.

Dilling has been under RSF siege since June 2023. It lies around 150 kilometres (93 miles) southwest of El-Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan – a key crossroads linking Darfur to Khartoum.

Famine and oil

Independent verification remains difficult due to heavy fighting and communications blackouts in the area, but Dilling faces a severe humanitarian crisis.

According to the Rome-based Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), the city is now at risk of famine, while the state capital, Kadugli, is already facing one.

Famine has also been confirmed in Darfur’s El-Fasher and three nearby displacement camps. Last year, the IPC also declared famine in parts of South Kordofan’s Nuba Mountains.

South Kordofan, which borders South Sudan, is one of Sudan’s most resource-rich areas and home to the Heglig oil field, among the country’s largest.

The Rapid Support Forces, a paramilitary group that has been at war with the Sudanese military for over two years, said on Thursday (November 6, 2025) it has agreed to a humanitarian truce proposed by a U.S.-led mediator group known as the Quad.

The agreement to the proposal comes more than a week after the RSF seized el-Fasher city which had been under siege for over 18 months. It was also the last Sudanese military stronghold in Sudan’s western Darfur region.

“The Rapid Support Forces looks forward to implementing the agreement and immediately commencing discussions on arrangements for a cessation of hostilities and the fundamental principles guiding the political process in Sudan, in a manner that addresses the root causes of the conflicts, ending the suffering of the Sudanese people,” an RSF statement read.

A Sudan military official told The Associated Press the Army welcomes the Quad’s proposal but will only agree to a truce when the RSF completely withdraws from civilian areas and give up weapons per previous peace proposals. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to freely discuss the matter.

Millions face displacement, food insecurity

The war between the RSF and the military began in 2023, when tensions erupted between the two former allies that were meant to oversee a democratic transition after a 2019 uprising. The fighting has killed at least 40,000 people, according to the WHO, and displaced 12 million. However, aid groups say the true death toll could be many times higher. Over 24 million people are also facing acute food insecurity, according to the World Food Program.

Massad Boulos, a U.S. adviser for African affairs, said the U.S. was working with the Sudanese Army and RSF to bring about a humanitarian truce and could have an announcement “soon.”

“We were working on this for the last almost 10 days with both sides, hoping to finalise the details,” Mr. Boulos told the AP in an interview on Monday. The U.S.-led plan would start with a three-month humanitarian truce followed by a nine-month political process, he said.

U.S. working with Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the UAE

The U.S. has been working with Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates — the Quad — on ways to end the war.

“We urge both sides to move forward in response to the U.S.-led effort to conclude a humanitarian truce, given the immediate urgency of de-escalating the violence and ending the suffering of the Sudanese people,” the U.S. State Department said on Thursday.

El-Fasher, the capital city of North Darfur, is one of two regions hit by famine, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a global hunger monitoring group, said on Monday. The other is the town of Kadugli in South Kordofan province.

“We have to confirm that the main reason behind this famine is that it’s man-made. We’re not talking about natural disasters because there is ongoing conflict, insecurity, the inability to access food, and the lack of humanitarian corridors that ensures people in much need obtain food,” said AbdulHakim Elwaer, regional representative for Near East and North Africa.

Talks on helping aid reach those in need

Mr. Elwaer told The Associated Press on Thursday during a video call that there were talks for almost two years about making it easier for aid to reach communities in need through opening safe humanitarian corridors.

“I’m optimistic that by the end of the year we’ll reach a solution and there has to be a solution because we can’t allow millions of people to die of hunger because aid is not reaching them,” he said.

The nonprofit Islamic Relief warned in a statement on Thursday that community kitchens that provide a lifeline to many families are at risk of collapse. A new survey by the group found that 83% of families in east and west Sudan are now without enough food.

Humanitarian organizations have long labelled Sudan as having one of the most alarming displacement crises in the world. Most recently, more people were displaced after el-Fasher was overtaken by the RSF following a series of attacks by the group that ran rampant in the city.

An influx of displaced people recently fled el-Fasher to arrive at Al-Affad displacement camp in the town of Al-Dabbah in the Northern State, which is some 350 kilometres from the capital Khartoum.

Harrowing escapes from el-Fasher

Several people who spoke to the AP this week recounted harrowing details of their escape from el-Fasher. Othman Mohamed, a teacher who fled the city at the end of September, said he saw bodies scattered along the road and people collapsing from exhaustion and abuse during the journey.

He said he had lived in a crisis in el-Fasher where drones and artillery were used and food was barely available. People often survived on Ombaz until it was hard to obtain. Ombaz is what is left from pressing peanut oil.

“In el-Fasher there’s nothing but beating and killing using drones in the sky that you can’t see but it hits you. The drone strikes you without you feeling it,” said Rawda Mohamed, who spent hours walking to Al-Affad camp.

Mathilde Vu, an advocacy manager with the Norwegian Refugee Council, NRC, said in a briefing on Thursday that people in el-Fasher have been surviving on animal food and rain water. They have often been shelled and sheltered in holes they dug in the ground for safety. Those who tried to flee were attacked, she added.

People made “the journey on foot for several days, through extreme thirst, hunger, and violence, with some of them picked up in trucks only for the final stretch. Hundreds of people had to immediately be referred for medical attention due to their health condition. Some people at the reception centre were simply too dehydrated to talk,” she said of those arriving in Tawila.

Published – November 07, 2025 01:36 am IST

This image grab taken from handout video footage released on Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) Telegram account on October 26, 2025, shows RSF fighters holding weapons and celebrating in the streets of El-Fasher in Sudan’s Darfur.
| Photo Credit: FP

Only a few thousand Sudanese have reached the nearest camp for displaced in the days since Sudan’s paramilitary forces seized el-Fasher city, raising fears over tens of thousands who might still be trapped as survivors described killings and other atrocities, an aid group said on Sunday (November 2, 2025).

The Rapid Support Forces took control of the western Darfur region last week, after ousting the rival Sudanese Army from the city that was besieged for 18 months.

Since then, reports and videos have circulated of RSF atrocities against civilians including beatings, killings and sexual assaults, according to testimonies by civilians and aid workers. The dead included at least 460 killed in the hospital, according to the World Health Organisation.

Tens of thousands are believed to have fled el-Fasher, according to the UN migration agency. However, less than 6,000 have made it to the nearest camp in Tawila, 65 kilometres away, said Shashwat Saraf, Sudan director for the Norwegian Refugee Council, which runs the camp.

Almost 1,000 people arrived in the last three days, he said.

“The numbers are still very few. We are not seeing the hundreds of thousands that we were expecting. If people are still in el-Fasher, it will be very difficult for them to survive,” he told The Associated Press by phone from Tawila.

Survivors describe dodging gunmen as they fled el-Fasher

The fall of el-Fasher marked a new turning point in the war between the RSF and Sudan’s armed forces, which erupted in April 2023. More than 40,000 people have been killed, according to UN figures, but aid groups say the true number could be many times higher.

The war has also displaced more than 14 million people and unleashed outbreaks of diseases, killing thousands.

“We feel that a lot of people are stuck in locations from where it is not safe for them to move, and they need to pay to move and they don’t have money to pay,” Mr. Saraf said.

Survivors who made the journey on foot have shared harrowing details of having to dodge gunmen shooting at them as they fled.

“People arriving in the camp are mostly disoriented and dehydrated with bruises all over. Sometimes they do not even remember their names, they have to be taken to the hospital and have IV fluids,” Mr. Saraf said.

Mr. Saraf also said that around 170 unaccompanied children, some of whom as young as 3 years old, trekked to Tawila without knowing where their family members were. They came along with older children or adults who were not their relatives.

Sudan’s official accuses UAE of backing a “terrorist organisation”

In a news conference on Sunday, Sudan’s ambassador in Cairo, Imadeldin Mustafa Adawi, accused the RSF of carrying out war crimes in el-Fasher.

Mr. Adawi said that his government would not negotiate with the RSF, urging the international community to designate the group as a terrorist organisation.

“The government of Sudan is calling on the international community to act immediately and effectively rather than just make statements of condemnation,” Mr. Adawi said.

Mr. Adawi renewed his government’s accusations that the United Arab Emirates has been arming the RSF, insisting that the Gulf state should not be involved in any mediation efforts.

The UAE has backed the RSF and opposed the Sudanese military, pointing to the Army’s ties to Islamic forces that Abu Dhabi has long opposed. The UAE has denied the accusations despite evidence to the contrary.

When asked earlier on Sunday about his country’s support for the RSF, senior UAE diplomat Anwar Gargash did not directly answer the question while attending the annual Manama Dialogue security summit in Bahrain.

He said that the international community made a “critical mistake” in supporting both the military leader, Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, and his rival, RSF commander Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, when the Army ousted a Western-backed power-sharing government in 2021.

“We all made the mistake when the two generals who are fighting the civil war today overthrew the civilian government,” Mr. Gargash said. “That was, in my opinion, looking backwards was a critical mistake. We should have put our foot down — all of us collectively.”

The UAE supports a three-month humanitarian ceasefire, with the two parties negotiating and a civilian transitional government formed in nine months, he said.

There are mounting fears that the RSF may expand its military campaign toward the country’s centre once again, buoyed by its seizure of the entire Darfur region.

Twelve people were killed, including at least five children, in RSF attacks on two camps sheltering displaced people in the central Kordofan region, the Sudan Doctor Network, a medical group tracking the war, said on Saturday.

Published – November 03, 2025 02:26 am IST

Displaced families from el-Fasher at a displacement camp where they sought refuge from fighting between government forces and the RSF, in Tawila, Darfur region, Sudan, October 31, 2025. (The Norwegian Refugee Council via AP)
| Photo Credit: AP