'Everybody is terrorised': El-Fasher population drops to just seven percent of last year's high, Amnesty says

El Fasher’s population has collapsed since the Rapid Support Forces captured the city. Amnesty International found that more than 90 percent of residents have left. The change matters because the city had become a major refuge for people displaced by Sudan’s war.

Humanitarian organisations and Sudan’s government estimated that more than one million displaced people were in El Fasher last year. Amnesty now puts the remaining population at about 70,000. That means the city retains roughly seven percent of last year’s reported high.

The exodus reflects extreme insecurity. Amnesty documented killings, detention, torture, surveillance and fear under RSF control. Residents also described detention centres, forced labour and restricted humanitarian work. A small number of aid organisations returned by September 2026, but the RSF monitored their movements. The population figure therefore signals both mass displacement and the continuing danger civilians face.

El Fasher is a city in Sudan’s southwestern North Darfur region. It became a major gathering place for people uprooted by the country’s civil war. Its importance came from its role as a place where displaced civilians could seek safety.

The article does not explain exactly which services, routes or facilities drew people there. It does state that humanitarian organisations and the Sudanese government reported more than one million displaced people in the city last year. That figure shows the enormous pressure placed on El Fasher before its capture.

The situation changed sharply after the RSF took control. Amnesty’s latest findings describe killings, detention, torture, surveillance and a pervasive climate of fear. The population has since fallen to about 70,000. Humanitarian organisations have returned in small numbers, but the RSF monitors their movements and limits private contact with residents, making protection and aid harder.

The Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, are described in the article as a breakaway paramilitary group. The article also describes them as Emirati-backed. Amnesty accuses the RSF of crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing during its campaign, making its control of El Fasher central to the city’s crisis.

The RSF captured El Fasher one year before Amnesty’s latest findings. After taking the city, it established control through detention, surveillance and violence. Survivors said schools were used as detention centres. Residents reported that the group monitored humanitarian workers and prevented civilians from speaking freely with them.

The RSF remains the authority controlling El Fasher in the article’s account. Amnesty says unlawful killings, torture, forced labour and arbitrary detention continue. It called for detainees’ release and an end to abuses. The group did not respond to Amnesty’s request for comment, and the article describes no agreement that would remove it from power.

Amnesty International found that abuse in El Fasher extends beyond isolated incidents. It described unlawful killings, arbitrary detention, torture, surveillance and forced labour. The organisation said the abuses are widespread and that fear now hangs over the city.

Survivors gave detailed examples. Modathir said detainees could be executed for sleeping or looking at guards. Hatim described being held for about four months in a school with roughly 300 people and beaten when he tried to escape. Mamoun said he was beaten repeatedly and that his family paid a ransom for his release.

Amnesty also reported that detention centres held women, children, elderly people and wounded detainees. Survivors described high malnutrition rates and regular beatings of Zaghawa people. One woman reported the slur “falangayaat,” associated with slavery or servitude. Amnesty urged the RSF to release detainees and stop these abuses.

When an armed group controls a city through surveillance and abuse, civilians lose safe ways to report danger or seek assistance. Fear can silence witnesses and push families to flee. In El Fasher, Amnesty described a pervasive pall of fear and a population decline of more than 90 percent.

The mechanism is direct. Residents said the RSF watched humanitarian workers closely and prevented private conversations with civilians. Detention centres held hundreds, while survivors described beatings, torture, killings and ransom demands. Amnesty also reported forced labour, which it said is prohibited by international law. These practices punish resistance and restrict independent aid.

Humanitarian work continues only in a limited and controlled way. Some organisations were operating again by September 2026, but the RSF monitored activities and banned photographs, interviews and other interactions. Amnesty called for detainee releases, a ceasefire and an international force to protect civilians.

The article does not quantify Sudan’s wider humanitarian crisis in terms of food shortages, total internal displacement, refugees or deaths. It therefore cannot support a reliable nationwide scale for those four measures. The source does establish that Sudan’s civil war has continued since April 2023 and is escalating.

For El Fasher, the available figures are stark. Humanitarian organisations and the government reported more than one million displaced people there last year. Amnesty now says only about 70,000 remain. It also found high malnutrition rates in detention centres holding women, children, elderly people and wounded detainees.

These local facts show severe humanitarian damage, but they are not a national total. The article focuses on Amnesty’s interviews with 25 civilians and humanitarian workers. It calls for an immediate ceasefire, an international civilian-protection force and an end to arms transfers, but gives no broader figures for hunger, refugees or deaths.

Sudan’s civil war is the conflict that has continued since April 2023 and escalated without a clear end. In this article, the RSF’s capture of El Fasher illustrates the war’s effect on civilians. The city became dominated by detention, surveillance, killings and fear.

Foreign arms matter because weapons help armed parties continue military campaigns. The article specifically says the United Arab Emirates is supplying weapons to the RSF and describes the UAE as backing the group. It also says the UN has an arms embargo on Darfur. Amnesty argues that continued transfers violate that embargo.

Amnesty wants all countries to stop supplying arms and ammunition to every party. It especially calls for arms transfers to the UAE to stop until it ends support for the RSF. It also urges the UN Security Council to extend the Darfur embargo across Sudan. The article reports little recent diplomatic movement toward a solution.