Fierce fighting in Sudan’s besieged town of El Fasher has become so intense that Mohamed Haroon Abdallah has been unable to bury his brother.
He was injured last week in an attack on the town in the western region of Darfur and died on Monday.
“I had to leave my brother’s body behind on the way to the cemetery,” Abdallah, 30, told the BBC.
New satellite images show that the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), fighting to wrest control of the city from the army, deliberately attacked the Ab Shouk camp, where Mr Abdallah and an estimated 100,000 others live after they had fled previous ethnic conflict. .
The rival military factions have been fighting each other across the country since April 2023 – and in Darfur the violence is reminiscent of the ethnic cleansing unleashed on non-Arab communities by Arab militias two decades ago.
The satellite images analyzed by Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL) show the RSF attacking civilian homes in and around El Fasher, the military’s last stronghold in Darfur.
“There is clear evidence of deliberate burning of civilian buildings and bombings,” Nathaniel Redmond, director of the laboratory, told the BBC.
“Right now, about 100 football fields worth of civilian homes have been destroyed in the last two weeks of fighting.”
He warned that the army, under siege since mid-April, was now struggling to obtain supplies and that the final battle was likely to be “a genocidal massacre”.
The UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide has said the risk of genocide is increasing every day.
“In Darfur and El Fasher, civilians are being attacked and killed because of the color of their skin and because of their ethnicity,” Alice Wairimu Nderitu told the UN Security Council on Tuesday.
The army has also been accused of indiscriminate shelling and aerial bombardment in densely populated areas.
El Fasher resident Ibrahim al-Tayeb al-Faki said his sister was killed in a military airstrike that also destroyed his home.
The 47-year-old told the BBC that he had sent his three children to live with their grandfather, but his home was also affected. The family now takes shelter in the ruins.
“There is currently no safe place in El Fasher,” he said.
Medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said staff at a city hospital it ran were struggling to cope.
Since fighting began in the city on Friday, May 10, 809 victims have arrived at South Hospital and 93 have died, Doctors Without Borders said.
The hospital had just one surgeon and more than 70 people were waiting for operations, Claire Nicolet of Doctors Without Borders told the BBC, warning that medical supplies would soon run out.
The situation is no different in the Saudi hospital, run by the Ministry of Health, which has been partially damaged.
Medical director Modther Ibrahim Suliman told the BBC that the water and solar systems had been destroyed and that they were operating in “very difficult” conditions.
Residents of El Fasher say access to food and water has become increasingly difficult. The RSF attacked the city from three sides and blocked all supply routes.
“Survival is an incredible challenge,” 32-year-old lawyer Mahmoud Ahmed Adam, who had to move repeatedly to escape the fighting, told the BBC.
“Many people live in schools and refugee centers where basic services or assistance are lacking,” he said.
Mr Abdallah, who lost his brother, said Ab Shouk camp’s Al Saalam School now also serves as a shelter for those who have recently lost their homes.
This week it was also shot at and a young girl lost her leg.
“She is currently receiving first aid at the camp’s clinic as there are no resources to take her to South Hospital,” he said.
The satellite maps show the extent of the destruction in El Fasher:
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Red: Thermal scarring observed between May 14 and 18, 2024
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Orange: Thermal scarring observed between May 9 and 14, 2024
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Yellow: thermal scars observed between May 1 and 9, 2024
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Black: Thermal scarring observed between March 21 and April 29, 2024
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