Sudan’s El Fasher could fall to rebels imminently – US

Mr Perriello said the US would not recognise an independent Darfur “under any circumstances”.

“I think if there’s anyone in RSF territory who thinks taking El Fasher means somehow they will have a right to the state of Darfur, they need to disillusion themselves of that myth,” he said. “It does not mean that.

He also called for a ceasefire in the city, which the RSF has been attacking since the middle of April.

“We see upwards of a million innocent people being starved by the siege of the RSF,” he said. “Bombings have killed people inside of hospitals.

“We see 45,000 pregnant women who not only have no real prenatal care, but don’t even have enough meals a day to be nourished enough for a healthy pregnancy.

“And as bad as it is, it could get worse any day if El Fasher falls, not only the horrors that would come from the battle, but as people flee.”

America’s warning about the fall of El Fasher follows weeks of bloody fighting in the city.

Hundreds of thousands of civilians are trapped inside the town, with many enduring hunger and thirst amidst shortages of food and water.

El Fasher had been a sanctuary for many who had fled their homes because of the conflict. But it has now turned into yet another frontline.

Civillians there have reported being hit by shelling and bullets in their homes and even in hospital.

One of the last health facilities still running is the Sayyid Shuada health centre.

Footage filmed in the hospital for the BBC shows a distraught mother too shocked to speak after shelling hit her home, injuring five family members.

She held her toddler as her husband and other children received emergency treatment.

The mother said she couldn’t tell whether the blood on her toddler’s face was his, his siblings’ or his father’s.

Sayyid Shuada is overstretched by the mounting casualties.

“Every day there is a new wave of patients that are wounded arriving… on average maybe 50 per day, which is already what we consider mass casualty,” said Claire Nicolet, who leads medical charity MSF’s emergency response in Sudan.

There’s only one surgeon present at the facility who is forced by the situation to work “round the clock”.

“Most of [the patients] need surgery so it’s pretty dramatic,” says Ms Nicolet.