The International Land Coalition – Europe, Middle East and North Africa (ILC EMENA) expresses its deep concern over the political and social crisis currently unfolding in El Fashir, North Darfur in Sudan, marked by mass civilian casualties, starvation, and land dispossession.
Sudan’s crisis in Darfur has reached catastrophic levels, with mass displacement, starvation, and deadly violence—largely rooted in conflicts over land and resources. ILC EMENA expresses deep concern as the city of El Fasher fell to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) after an 18-month siege marked by mass killings and atrocities. Tens of thousands remain trapped, and thousands more are unaccounted for after fleeing, with over 970 civilians displaced in a single day, according to UN migration data.
"They took my home and turned it into a military base," says Khartoum resident. “The Rapid Support Forces RSF forced me out of my home in the Al-Amarat neighborhood of Khartoum, telling me it was no longer mine,” said Othman, a resident of the city, in a phone interview. “They occupied it for nearly two years, using it as a military base. When they finally left, they looted everything and left behind unexploded artillery shells.”
The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) army has been battling the RSF for control of the country since April 2023, triggering what has widely been described as the world’s largest humanitarian crisis. Darfur has been the worst hit, where armed clashes, ethnic violence, and widespread displacement have fractured land control. At least 14 million Sudanese are displaced, with traditional livelihoods and land tenure collapsing as villages are razed and farmland abandoned. RSF’s campaign targets rural communities via deliberate displacement, village destruction, and land seizures, disrupting agriculture, centuries-old pastoralist routes, and ancestral land rights.
Farmers and herders, vital to Sudan’s rural economy, now compete for safe spaces amid violence, worsening longstanding tensions over grazing, water, and cultivation. The RSF’s control of strategic territories and gold mines escalates resource conflicts. Abandoned farmland jeopardizes food production, putting 20 million people at risk of hunger. Loss of land claims further undermines community resilience and fragments social cohesion.
The United Nations calls Darfur a humanitarian disaster, reporting widespread starvation, sexual violence, and displacement, particularly implicating the RSF in crimes against humanity connected to land seizure and destruction. In the first half of 2025, over 3,300 civilians were killed in Sudan—nearly half in North Darfur—with much violence ethnically motivated and farmland deliberately targeted.
A recent statement by the UN Security Council released days ago condemns the escalating violence in Sudan, particularly the assault by the RSF on El Fasher in North Darfur, and urges all parties to cease hostilities. Displaced people must regain access to land to rebuild homes and livelihoods in this agriculturally and pastoralist dependent region.
Restoring secure land access is critical for justice and social recovery in Sudan.
ILC EMENA urges for a ceasefire, civilian protection, humanitarian aid restoration, and accountability for international law violations as essential steps toward lasting peace.