What does survival mean when everyone you love and everything you know has been erased by hatred, violence, and destruction? 

These are the questions that remain elusive to those who have watched their homes burn, seen their families fall, and had their lives shattered beyond recognition. They grapple with a reality where nothing feels familiar, and everything they once held dear has been torn apart. 

“The RSF came in, killed Christian civilians indiscriminately,” a Sudanese medical worker said. “Hospitals are not functioning, and people are dying in the streets.” 

On Oct. 26, El Fasher, North Darfur’s largest city, was shattered under the brutal assault of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a militia known for its cruelty and merciless tactics. Their objective was clear: to wipe out the Christian civilian population. Churches were set on fire and razed to the ground. Homes were looted and burned, and whole families were slaughtered without mercy. 

“They came into our village, shouting at the Christians, calling us ‘infidels,’” a survivor named Jok said. “They set fire to the church, and the flames climbed higher, consuming everything. They dragged men from their homes, butchering and shooting them. I heard their screams, but there was no time to think. We had to run. We left everything behind.” 

In one day, more than 2,000 people were killed in El Fasher alone, including women and children. The violence was brutal; no one was spared, not even the elderly or the very young. Christian neighborhoods were set ablaze, leaving nothing but ruins and charred memories. Churches that once rang with hymns were reduced to smoldering debris. 

A witness, named Garang, lost a loved one in the attack. 

“We were at the market when the RSF stormed in,” he said. “The soldiers didn’t care who was there or what we had. They just started shooting. My brother … I saw him fall. He was right in front of me. They burned the whole market to the ground. I fled for my safety.” 

The violence continued. As survivors fled to the nearby town of Tawila, hoping for refuge, the RSF followed. Christian refugees were hunted down and executed. Men, women, and children were slaughtered as they tried to escape. Those who were not killed were forced into hiding, their lives now reduced to survival, to waiting for the next wave of violence. 

“The hospitals are no longer functioning,” said a doctor trying to treat the wounded. “The walls of the clinic are stained with the blood of the innocent. Other clinics were set ablaze. People are dying in the streets, and there is nothing we can do.” 

As the death toll climbed, hospitals across El Fasher were reduced to ruins. Doctors and nurses who had once saved lives now found themselves scrambling to tend to the wounded in the midst of a battlefield. Medical facilities that had been sanctuaries of care were targeted and destroyed. The RSF bombed the maternity ward at the main hospital, and 460 lives were lost in that attack alone. 

What followed in the coming days was a nightmare of genocide. The targeting of Christian communities in Darfur became an explicit campaign to erase their existence from the region. It wasn’t just physical death they sought; it was the destruction of everything they had. The survivors need help. They need protection. They need justice. 

*Names have been changed or withheld for the safety of the individuals involved. 

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