World called to action after reports of atrocities in El Fasher

United Nations agencies warned of reprisals as the Rapid Support Forces broke into the city, with reports of mass executions including the killing of around 460 people inside a hospital.

Pope Leo appealed for a ceasefire and humanitarian access in the Sudanese state of North Darfur after the fall of its capital El Fasher to rebel forces, expressing “great sorrow” at reports of atrocities in the city.

“Indiscriminate violence against women and children, attacks on unarmed civilians, and serious obstacles to humanitarian aid are causing unbearable suffering for a population already exhausted by long months of conflict,” he said after the Angelus in St Peter’s Square on Sunday.

“Let us pray that the Lord may receive the deceased with his embrace, strengthen those who are suffering, and move the hearts of those responsible.”

He called for the international community “to act with determination and generosity, to provide assistance and to support those working tirelessly to bring relief”.

The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) stormed El Fasher on 26 October, ending the 18-month siege of the last stronghold of the government’s Sudanese Armed Forces in the wider Darfur region of western Sudan. The RSF subjected the city to indiscriminate bombing, shelling and drone strikes during the siege.

United Nations agencies warned of reprisals as the RSF broke into the city, with reports of mass executions including the killing of around 460 people inside a hospital, but information remained limited.

“We actually don’t know all that is happening in Sudan now, especially in Darfur and El Fasher, which are suffering terrible consequences of the war,” said Bishop Christian Carlsalare of Bentiu, in neighbouring South Sudan. “What we can do is make the situation [of Sudan] known more and more.”

At least 60,000 people are believed to have escaped from El Fasher, leaving 150,000 others trapped in the city without food, water and medicines. Before the capture, at least 260,000 were trapped there, including 130,000 children. 

Among them was the Revd Daramali Abudigin, an Anglican priest who was the last Christian minister in the city after the death of the last remaining Catholic priest in June. He was forced to flee his church after RSF gunmen attacked it in September and was seeking a way to escape El Fasher with the help of the Episcopal Church of Sudan (ECS) and the Anglican Diocese of Leeds which supports the Church, but neither have reported his whereabouts for several weeks.

The ECS bishops published a statement on 29 October condemning the violence in Sudan and committing the Church to promoting peace and providing humanitarian aid.

“We call upon all parties to the conflict in Sudan to immediately cease hostilities,” said the statement signed by the ECS primate Archbishop Ezekiel Kondo. “We appeal to all sides to open safe humanitarian corridors to facilitate the delivery of essential aid, such as medicine and food, to those in need.”

There are an estimated 9 million people internally displaced in Sudan, while over 4 million have fled across the border to settle as refugees in the neighbouring countries including Chad, South Sudan and the Central African Republic.

The ECS bishops commended the initiatives “of all groups working to find a path to peace” and condemned “the countries that are fuelling the war in Sudan”.

“We implore the international and regional community to pay urgent attention to the war in Sudan, placing it among their top priorities for diplomatic and humanitarian action,” they said.

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