By Bunmi Yekini
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has sounded the alarm over a worsening humanitarian crisis in Sudan’s Darfur region after nearly 100 wounded civilians, including women and children, arrived at MSF-supported facilities in a single day following fresh attacks by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF).
On 10 September alone, 99 patients were treated across hospitals in North, Central, and South Darfur, while four people were declared dead on arrival.
“We urge all warring parties to immediately spare civilians, protect medical staff and facilities, and guarantee safe, unhindered access for humanitarian aid, starting in El Fasher and other besieged areas,” said Marwan Taher, MSF Head of Mission in Darfur. “The humanitarian crisis is spiraling, and the world cannot continue to look away.”
In North Darfur’s Tawila, MSF staff treated 50 wounded patients in one day. Since mid-August, more than 650 injured people fleeing El Fasher have reached Tawila Hospital, located 60 kilometers from the city. Many survivors reported leaving behind critically wounded people and encountering dead bodies along the roads.
“Some people have walked 60 kilometers on foot, bleeding from gunshot wounds and severe whippings, yet they are the fortunate few who survived the horrors of El Fasher and the journey to escape it,” explained Sylvain Penicaud, MSF project coordinator in Tawila. “They arrive exhausted, broken, and in such extreme states of distress.”
El Fasher, under siege for over a year, has been cut off from food, medicine, and clean water. Those who attempt to flee face killings, torture, and sexual assault. Tawila, already hosting 800,000 internally displaced people, is now overwhelmed by new arrivals.
The violence is spreading across Darfur. On 10 September, drone strikes hit multiple locations. In Central Darfur, a SAF drone landed just four kilometers from Zalingei Teaching Hospital, forcing MSF to activate its mass casualty plan.
“From the hospital, our teams heard the drone strike,” said Taher. “Moments later, in broad daylight, we had to activate our mass casualty plan as an influx of war-wounded people arrived, including six women and four children. No one is safe.”
In South Darfur’s Nyala, two SAF drones struck the city on the same day, leaving 12 people injured and four dead on arrival at Nyala Teaching Hospital. This marked the eighth deadly drone strike on the city in less than two weeks.
Meanwhile, RSF airstrikes in Khartoum on 9 September destroyed a power station, plunging parts of the capital into blackout. Hospitals such as Al-Nao and Al-Buluk Pediatric now rely on generators, putting premature and critically ill children at heightened risk.
MSF warns that health facilities across Sudan are buckling under the strain of relentless violence, severe shortages of supplies, and the constant threat of attack.