Toronto, September 25, 2025 – International non-governmental organizations working in Sudan express grave concern about the deteriorating situation in Al Fasher and reiterate urgent calls for immediate measures to protect civilians in and around the city. For over 14 months, the population in Al Fasher has endured relentless shelling and airstrikes, while being denied access to lifesaving humanitarian assistance, as warring parties vie for control of the strategic city, at the expense of civilian populations.
Markets, hospitals, mosques, and displacement camps have been repeatedly targeted, leaving families without food, medicine, or safe shelter. Civilians attempting to flee face extortion, ethnic targeting, sexual violence, and killings along the routes, while prohibitive costs make escape impossible for most. Local responders and aid workers are under attack as they struggle to sustain communal kitchens and basic care. Local traders bringing in supplies face extortion, looting, attacks, and even executions.
Sustained attacks, obstruction of aid and targeting of critical infrastructure demonstrate a deliberate strategy to break the civilian population through hunger, fear, and exhaustion. Despite repeated calls from humanitarian actors for all armed parties to the conflict to uphold their obligations under International Humanitarian Law and allow civilians in Al Fasher access to critical humanitarian assistance, civilians remain trapped under siege and face imminent risk of mass atrocities.
It is imperative that warring parties distinguish between civilian gathering sites and infrastructure – including hospitals, water tanks, places of worship and markets – from military targets, and to refrain from using weapons that risk indiscriminate harm to civilians, including drones. Parties must guarantee safe exit and passage out of the city for those that wish to leave, and allow life-saving aid and commodities to enter. Humanitarian workers and assets must not be targeted, and Parties must provide concrete guarantees for their safety.
As world leaders convene in New York this week, we call on the UN Security Council and its member states, including those supporting Parties to the conflict, regional actors including the African Union, and donor governments, to act on our plea for concrete, monitored action to protect civilians in Al Fasher. This includes securing protection for civilians along escape routes leading out of the city and in areas of destination. Particular attention must be given to the specific risks faced by women, and young men. Parties must also facilitate the sustained influx of humanitarian and commercial supplies, with strong guarantees for the protection of humanitarian workers – including local responders, traders, and aid assets.
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