An extensive earthen wall is being built around the besieged Sudanese city of el-Fasher and is intended to trap people inside, according to research from Yale University.From satellite images, the university’s Humanitarian Research Lab has identified more than 31km (19 miles) of “berms” – as the raised banks are known – constructed since May in territory outside the city occupied by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).El-Fasher, under siege for more than a year, is the last major foothold in Darfur for the army, which has been battling the RSF since April 2023.The Sudan Doctors Network has told the BBC the RSF is intensifying its offensive there and deliberately targeting civilians.”Yesterday there was a shelling in a civilian area down in the city centre that ended up killing almost 24 civilians and injuring 55 people, among them five women,” Dr Mohamed Faisal Hassan, from the medics association, told the BBC’s Newsday programme.The attacks on the central market and a residential area were “deliberate” and “heinous”, he said.”Three days ago they targeted one of the biggest hospitals in el-Fasher and resulted in a massive massacre of patients and medical staff.”BBC Verify says both sides in the conflict have been using berms as a defensive strategy.But the analysis by Yale’s Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL), which has been closely monitoring the conflict, suggests that the RSF “is creating a literal kill box around el-Fasher”.The HRL traced the construction of the earthen walls on to a map of el-Fasher (above):Green line: 9km constructed between 14 and 24 July 2025 (the satellite images show Alsen village in this stretch)Yellow line: 6km constructed between 3 and 19 August 2025Blue line: 7km constructed between 5 May and 12 July 2025Red line: Currently 9km with construction ongoing between 13-27 August 2025.The HRL report note …
