KHARTOUM– The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has issued a chilling warning that the bloodletting in the western region of Al‑Fashir, Darfur is a grim echo of past atrocities, and this time, it is spiralling faster. MirjanaSpoljaric described the scene she witnessed on a recent visit as “horrific,” noting that tens of thousands of civilians are fleeing the city while many others remain trapped, starving and wounded.
The capture of Al-Fashir by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the last major stronghold of the national army in Darfur, has shifted the balance of power, giving the paramilitary group control of a quarter or more of Sudan’s territory. As the RSF advanced, reports emerged of widespread killings: civilians and unarmed fighters allegedly rounded up, separated, and executed, while others were forced to flee with no water, food or access to medical care.
Spoljaric drew an explicit parallel with previous Darfur campaigns of ethnic-driven violence, saying that what was unfolding now is “history repeating”, and adding sorrowfully that “it becomes worse every time a place is taken over by the other party.” She pointed to the collapse of healthcare in the city, highlighting a hospital in Al-Fashir where staff heard reports that people were collapsing and dying from exhaustion or wounds as they tried to stay alive and escape.
Witnesses told of harrowing scenes: men stripped from their families, taken away to reservoirs or villages, and shot. One man, who managed to escape, said fighters on camels gathered hundreds of unarmed men, shouted racial insults, and opened fire. Meanwhile, the UN rights office estimated hundreds may have been executed following Al-Fashir’s fall.
Spoljaric placed direct appeal not just on the warring parties but on foreign states she says have the power to restrain them. “Especially those states that have influence on parties to conflict are under responsibility… to make sure they protect civilian populations,” she said.
The comparison to Darfur’s darkest era is hardly rhetorical. Experts note the RSF traces its roots back to the Janjaweed militias, which were implicated in what many called genocide in the early 2000s. As of now the humanitarian toll is staggering: over 70,000 people have fled Al-Fashir since late October, yet up to 200,000 may still be trapped inside the city amidst siege-conditions.
Spoljaric warned of a broader trend, “the world is living through a decade of war,” she said, pointing to how modern warfare technologies such as drones and the doubling of armed conflicts in recent years means “nowhere is safe anymore.”
Sudan’s humanitarian crisis has now reached spectres of its earlier ghosts. The fear is no longer simply of another conflict but of another systematic assault on civilians, with little global intervention and escaping broad media focus. The ICRC’s chief plea is stark: the killing must stop. Respect for international humanitarian law must be enforced. Lives in Darfur hang in the balance, while the world watches whether history will again fail to learn its lesson.