The governor of Darfur, allied with the Sudanese army, called for the "protection of civilians" in the famine-stricken city of El-Fasher after the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) claimed to have taken control.

The RSF has been locked in a brutal war with the army since April 2023.

"We demand the protection of civilians, disclosure of the fate of the displaced and an independent investigation into the violations and massacres carried out by the militia away from public view," Governor Minni Minnawi said on Monday.

The Sudan Doctors Network also accuses the RSF of killing civilians based on their ethnicities and plundering health facilities in El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, western Sudan.

City under siege

“In a heinous massacre committed by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) yesterday evening in El Fasher—adding to their widespread crimes across El Fasher and the Darfur region—the RSF killed unarmed civilians on ethnic grounds in what amounts to an act of ethnic cleansing,” Sudan Doctors Network said in a statement on US social media company X on Monday.

“It remains difficult to access the affected areas due to the complete security collapse caused by the RSF,” the statement added.

El-Fasher has witnessed fierce fighting for weeks between the army and the RSF, following a multi-front assault by the paramilitary group, which has surrounded the city from five directions in an attempt to seize control of it due to its strategic importance.

The RSF has been besieging El-Fasher since May 10, 2024, as the Sudanese army seeks to break the siege of the city, which serves as the humanitarian operations center for the five Darfur states.

The army and the RSF have been fighting since April 2023, which has killed thousands of people and displaced millions of others.