For months, Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have maintained a blockade around El Fasher, cutting off major supply routes and encircling the city with trenches. As food, medicine, and clean water run out, thousands of displaced civilians in Abu Shouk and nearby camps now rely on foraged or inedible substitutes to survive.
Despite warnings from humanitarian agencies, a formal famine declaration has not been issued. However, observers say the evidence on the ground, malnutrition, silent deaths, and complete breakdown of food systems meets the threshold for famine.
The Darfur Network for Human Rights (DNHR) views the current crisis as part of a broader pattern in which starvation is being systematically used as a weapon of war. The deliberate obstruction of aid, the isolation of population centers, and the destruction of basic services point to intentional tactics aimed at weakening and punishing civilian populations.
