Malnutrition Kills 63 in Sudan’s El-Fasher in One Week

Sudanese Red Crescent and experts exhume bodies for reburial in Khartoum’s al-Azhari on 2 August 2025 after hurried RSF burials.

Malnutrition has claimed the lives of at least 63 people, mostly women and children, in just one week in Sudan’s besieged city of El-Fasher, a health official reported on Sunday.

The official, speaking anonymously, said this figure only accounts for those who reached hospitals, noting many families buried their dead without seeking medical help due to poor security and lack of transport.

Since May last year, El-Fasher has been under siege by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which has been fighting Sudan’s regular army since April 2023.

El-Fasher remains the last major Darfur city under army control and recently faced renewed attacks by the RSF after the group withdrew from Khartoum earlier this year.

An RSF offensive in April on the nearby Zamzam displacement camp forced tens of thousands to flee again, many now sheltering inside El-Fasher.

Community kitchens that once provided vital food support have mostly closed due to supply shortages. Some families are reported to survive on animal fodder or food waste.

Nearly 40 percent of children under five in El-Fasher are acutely malnourished, with 11 percent suffering from severe acute malnutrition, according to UN data.

The peak rainy season in August is worsening access, as deteriorating roads make aid deliveries difficult or impossible.

Now in its third year, the conflict has killed tens of thousands, displaced millions, and created what the United Nations calls the world’s largest displacement and hunger crisis.