Thousands of families trapped in the besieged city of el-Fasher in western Sudan are at “risk of starvation”, the World Food Programme (WFP) warns as the country’s brutal civil war rages well into its third year.Since May last year, el-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state, has been under siege by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which has been at war with the government-aligned Sudanese armed forces (SAF) since April 2023.The RSF has encircled the city, blocking all major roads and trapping hundreds of thousands of civilians, who have dwindling food supplies and limited humanitarian access.“Everyone in el-Fasher is facing a daily struggle to survive,” said Eric Perdison, the WFP’s regional director for East and Southern Africa.“People’s coping mechanisms have been completely exhausted by over two years of war. Without immediate and sustained access, lives will be lost.”El-Fasher is the last major city in the Darfur region still held by the SAF. It has come under renewed attack by RSF fighters this year since the paramilitary was ousted from Sudan’s capital, Khartoum.A major RSF assault on the Zamzam displacement camp near el-Fasher in April forced hundreds of thousands of civilians to flee. Many have sought shelter in the state capital.According to the WFP, prices for staple foods like sorghum and wheat, used to make traditional flatbreads and porridge, are as much a …
