Dramatic story from a Doctors Without Borders coordinator in Sudan

The dispute is not only about power, but also about the strategic interests of the Gulf Countries, the Emirates and Russia. They are resources like gold, oil, water and the Red Sea, in a huge country, destroyed by civil war and so dangerous that humanitarian aid does not reach Al Fashir or many other isolated and hungry regions.

More than a thousand people, including women and children, They walked for two days to reach the city of Tawilain North Darfur, after fleeing El Fasher, which was captured after an 18-month siege.

Tawila, located about 55 km west of El Fasher, is under the control of the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) faction, led by Abdul Wahid Mohamed al-Nur (ELS-AW). On Tuesday, the Joint Forces, allies of the Sudanese army, accused the Rapid Support Forces (FAR) of having killed more than 2,000 civilians since the fall of the city. The UN stated that there are videos that show dozens of unarmed men being shot down or lying deadsurrounded by FAR fighters, in El Fasher and its surroundings.

Myriam Larousse She is the emergency coordinator in Darfur for Doctors Without Borders (MSF), the NGO whose funds depend on donations and not on international organizations. It is based in El Geneina, in West Darfur, where there was a huge massacre by the Rapid Support Forces at the start of the war in 2023 and 15,000 people died there. He has moved to Tawilawhere thousands of injured people arrive, raped women, recounting their escape from Al Fashir.

-What is the situation like in El Fasher today? The images that arrive via satellite of the terrain are absolutely horrifying. Have any humanitarian organizations, any direct sources, managed to get there?

– Currently, we as MSF do not have a presence in El Fasher, because we could not ensure the safety of our teams. We had to leave the city in August 2024. It was the same thing with the Zamzam displaced persons camp in February 2025 and that was due to the very high level of insecurity there.

– Where are they now?

– Now we are working 60 kilometers from El Fasher, in a city called Tawila. Today, in Tawila the displaced people are arriving fluidly. What we see there, from El Fasher, is very brutal.

– We received about a thousand people in Tawila in one night. What we, as Doctors Without Borders, have seen is that the majority of them arrived at the health post very malnourished and injured. Among them, of all children under 5 years of age, almost all had acute malnutrition. Furthermore, the pregnant women we have seen were very weak. This very night we received dozens of people injured by gunshots and as a result of acts of violence on the route out of El Fasher towards Tawila. Among those people, more than 130 of them had to be referred to Tawila hospital, including 20 who needed life-saving surgery. And all that in a single night.

– There is talk of a massacre of 2,000 unarmed civilians on Sunday and Monday in El Fasher. And the majority would have been women, children and the elderly. Does this coincide with what the people who arrived say?

– Look, what we see is more people leaving El Fasher. So, what is happening inside El Fasher, today we are not clear about the data or what is happening. But what we have is the fear that what happened at Camp Zamzam will happen again. That’s clear.

– Yes, it is the refugee camp where the Rapid Militias also arrived and eliminated everyone. The people who fled along the roads, along the route, did the militias chase them, did they attack them when they fled?

– Well, what we see is that yes. Almost all. Many of them are victims of physical violence, with bullets. There is sexual violence and the level of trauma is very high. We must also keep in mind that the health situation in El Fasher is catastrophic. The hospitals that are already there are almost not working. Humanitarian aid has not reached El Fasher to this day and since the beginning, more than 500 days ago. The people there had to eat fodder, animal food, to survive. So, even before what is happening now, they lived in catastrophic conditions.

-They have to travel on foot or by truck to Tawila, arriving there. I have no words to describe what we see there. Yes, it is very serious. It’s very serious! In addition to that, we must also consider that humanitarian aid, be it also in Tawila, but it is the case throughout Sudan, is not at the level of needs. That is a call that we have made since the beginning of the war, more than two years ago.

– Yes, because there are no funds.

– The problem we see is that the funds necessary to support organizations and support the Sudanese population do not arrive. And so, the organizations that are present here cannot face these more acute situations than what we already have. A reaction is needed right now. The funds have to arrive and the emergency response capacity has to be at the level of needs. Today, that is not the case.

– People fleeing El Fasher describe ethnically motivated atrocities. What do those people who come to your hospital say?

– Well, that’s what they’re talking about. The fear we have is this violence based on ethnicity.

-Who manages to reach Tawila? Are they all civilians?

– The people we see, yes, are all civilians. Now, we see many more women and children. There are not many men who arrive. And that is also a fear we have now: what happens to men.

– In Tawila do you have a large hospital to receive so many people? 1.5 million people lived in El Fasher. It is said that there are at least 250 thousand people, including children, who cannot escape from El Fasher.

– It’s like that, it’s like that. What we see in Tawila is that we are overwhelmed, totally overwhelmed. We do not have the true capacity to help everyone.

– Besides you, in Tawila, are there other humanitarian organizations? Are some state hospitals open? Who controls Tawila?

– Now there are other organizations. But, as I said before, they do not have the capacity to react, to support this population, which is arriving now with such acute needs. Many of the hospitals in Sudan have been destroyed during the war. Many of the human resources left the area or are no longer inside Sudan.

– Now sexual rapes, murders of women and children by hanging, murders of men of tribal origin are reported. This is seen on social networks, but it is also incredibly seen from satellites, from the air. Is that so? Have you seen that on the ground?

– We, from the beginning of this war, have talked about the issue of sexual violence. It is used here in Darfur as a weapon of war. And that doesn’t stop! The reports, the testimonies of the women who are arriving in Tawila, yes, they mention sexual violence on the route. It’s something we continue to look at. But we know, by the way, that this route to leave El Fasher towards Tawila or other places is not safe for women.

– Are ethnic groups the objective in this war? The Fur, the Zaghawa, who are not of Arab origin there in Sudan?

– Well, it is true that there was and we believe that now in El Fasher there is violence based on ethnicity. Yes indeed.

-And what is the security status for you?

– Well, it’s all very limited. We, as Doctors Without Borders, have access to most of Darfur, with the exception of El Fasher.

– Have you not been attacked?

– We have had security incidents throughout this war, like all other organizations.

– Are the militias staying in El Fasher or are they moving?

– For now, within the areas where we work, we have not seen changes. The FAR remains in control. The ELS, in the areas controlled by the ELS, yes. There is no major change.

– There is talk of the possibility of a ceasefire promoted by the Emirates, by Saudi Arabia, by Washington. Do you guys feel like there’s any news on the ground about that?

– In terms of that, we don’t really talk about that.

– Is the only way to get around Sudan by land?

– Yes, the airports no longer work.