“As fighting continues unabated in North Darfur, Sudan, hundreds of thousands of civilians are trapped in and around the city of El Fasher besieged by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). All trade routes and supply lines have been cut off, and humanitarian organisations have been unable to deliver lifesaving aid for over a year. Even communal kitchens, which have been feeding civilians across the country on the frontline of the humanitarian response, have had to shut down due to food shortages. The price of food staples is surging, leaving families unable to afford basic items even when they are available. People are starving as a result: famine was confirmed in the internally displaced persons (IDP) camps close to El Fasher in August 2024, has spread since and is expected to spread further during the current lean season. Rising cases of cholera exacerbate the worst effects of malnutrition. Over 60 people have already reportedly died from malnutrition during the past week.
“The civilians of North Darfur – especially women and girls – have been exposed to horrific violations, including alarming rates of conflict-related sexual violence, since the onset of the conflict in April 2023. Attacks on civilian infrastructure, including markets and hospitals, have left the population with no access to healthcare. Recent reports shed light on the large-scale and repeated violations of international humanitarian law perpetrated by the RSF in Zamzam IDP camp in April 2025, where over 1,500 civilians are said to have been killed. In El Fasher, civilians are reportedly being killed as they try to exit the city. The recent attack on Abu Shouk IDP camp killed at least 40 civilians according to local sources. The International Criminal Court’s Office of the Prosecutor stated in July 2025 that there are reasonable grounds to believe that war crimes and crimes against humanity have been, and continue to be, committed in Darfur.
“Similar famine-like conditions and dreadful attacks persist in other areas of Sudan, especially in the Kordofans due to brutal hostilities across the states and the ongoing siege of Kadugli.
“This cannot continue.
“All parties to the conflict are responsible for the protection of civilians in Darfur and Kordofan. Both the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the RSF made clear commitments in the Jeddah Declaration (May 2023) to respect international humanitarian law and international human rights law. We urge all parties to demonstrate their compliance with this commitment by guaranteeing the immediate, unconditional, safe and unhindered humanitarian access to populations in need as well as protecting and preventing violations against civilians, in particular women and children and including humanitarian personnel, and civilian infrastructure at all times.
“To this end, we specifically call on the RSF and their allies to halt the siege on El Fasher, as requested under the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2736 (2024). We urge the RSF to grant a humanitarian pause for rapid, safe and unconditional humanitarian access to the people in need and safe passage of civilians to leave areas of active hostilities on a voluntary basis, in the direction they choose.
“We further call on the SAF to renew their agreement to this humanitarian pause in El Fasher and put in place the necessary approvals to facilitate the work of humanitarian organisations.
“We reiterate our call on the SAF to permanently open the Adré border crossing point for humanitarian actors, to lift bureaucratic impediments and to allow timely delivery of humanitarian and basic needs assistance across the country.
“We call on all parties to urgently allow UN-led convoys and sustained UN presence, including senior international staff, across Sudan’s territory, especially in the Darfurs and Kordofans, to enable the rapid scale up of humanitarian assistance to the population in need.
“We stand with the people of Sudan and humanitarian organisations – local and international – who are working tirelessly and under extremely challenging conditions to assist them. Civilians must be protected, and humanitarian access must be granted. Accountability must be ensured.”
This statement has been signed by:
Hadja Lahbib, European Commissioner for Equality, Preparedness and Crisis Management
Jose Manuel Albares Bueno, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Spain
Åsmund Aukrust, Minister of International Development of Norway
Lord Collins of Highbury, Minister for Africa of the United Kingdom
Gabija Grigaitė-Daugirdė, Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs of Lithuania
Randeep Sarai, Secretary of State (International Development), Canada
Elsebeth Søndergaard Krone, State Secretary for Development at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark
Diana Janse, State Secretary for International Development Cooperation of Sweden
Mariin Ratnik, Undersecretary for Economic and Development Affairs of Estonia
Dominik Stillhart, Head of Swiss Humanitarian Aid, Deputy Director General of Swiss Development Cooperation
Austria, Belgium, Croatia, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Czechia, the Republic of Finland, Federal Foreign Office of Germany, the Hellenic Republic, Hungary, Italy, Ireland, Japan, Latvia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.
