Satellite images show how Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) is flouting international law by intentionally targeting civilians in the besieged city of el-Fasher - actions that should be considered war crimes, a research team from Yale University says.
We're looking at the growth of an entire new burial area with over 60 new mounds that have been built in just a two-week period, Caitlin Howarth, from the university's Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL), told the BBC.
People are now completely trapped with no hope of escape as the RSF recently completed a 57km (35-mile) earthen wall around the city.
Desperate residents in the army's last stronghold in Darfur say food has run out.
There is nothing left to eat today - all food supplies have run out, the resistance committee for el-Fasher, made up of local citizens and activists, said in a statement on Tuesday.
Even the alternatives that people clung to for survival have disappeared, it said, referring to ambaz, a residue of peanuts after oil has been extracted, which is normally fed to animals.
Since Sudan plunged into civil war in April 2023 following a violent power struggle between the military and the RSF, attacks on civilians from non-Arab ethnic groups have surged—further complicating the dire humanitarian crisis.
The resistance committee warned that time was running out for the estimated 300,000 people who still live in the city, emphasizing the need for immediate humanitarian aid and the cessation of hostilities.
HRL researchers stated that recent attacks included bombings on shelters, mosques, and hospitals, resulting in numerous casualties, and indicated that many more incidents likely went unreported due to the communication blackout. They called for urgent action to ensure civilians can leave the city safely and for humanitarian access to be granted without the threat of violence.
