Growing concern surrounds the fate of more than 20 doctors who disappeared in El Fasher, the capital of Sudan’s North Darfur state, amid reports that they may have been detained by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) following the group’s capture of the city in October 2025.
According to the Sudan Doctors Network, the missing medical personnel, including four women, have not been seen or heard from since El Fasher fell under RSF control, raising fears over their safety and whereabouts.
“The RSF should reveal the fate of those detained in El Fasher and allow health personnel to perform their duties without being targeted or subjected to violations,” the Sudan Doctors Network said in a statement.
The disappearance of the doctors comes as Sudan’s healthcare system continues to face severe challenges caused by the conflict that has raged across the country since April 2023.
According to the United Nations Human Rights Office (OHCHR), more than 6,000 people were killed during the first three days of the RSF’s takeover of El Fasher. At least 4,400 people died inside the besieged city, while more than 1,600 others were killed along escape routes as civilians attempted to flee the fighting.
The UN agency also documented widespread human rights abuses committed during the offensive, including mass killings, summary executions, rape and gang rape, abductions for ransom, torture, enforced disappearances, and the recruitment and use of children in armed conflict. Many of the attacks reportedly targeted civilians based on their ethnicity, particularly members of non-Arab communities such as the Zaghawa.
The Sudan Doctors Network said healthcare workers have been operating under extremely dangerous conditions, marked by shelling, sieges, ongoing clashes, and severe shortages of medical supplies.
The group added that at least 25 healthcare workers—including doctors, pharmacists, and other medical personnel—were killed in North Darfur between April 2023 and October 2025, before the RSF seized El Fasher.
“The loss of these professionals is a major blow to the healthcare sector in North Darfur and extends the growing list of medical personnel who have been killed or gone missing since the war began in April 2023, which now exceeds 235,” the Sudan Doctors Network said.
The organization stressed that protecting healthcare workers is essential to ensure they can continue delivering lifesaving medical services in conflict-affected areas.
