Surrounded by fighters and haunted by famine, the city of Soudan fears the worst

A powerful paramilitary group has surrounded El Fasher, the last obstacle to domination of the sprawling Darfur region, raising alarms over massacres if the city is taken.

Fears of a new ethnic massacre in Sudan's Darfur region, where genocidal violence killed up to 300,000 people two decades ago, have taken hold of magnitude in recent days, with an attack imminent. on a city under siege and already threatened by famine.

The fight for control of El Fasher, the last city held by the Sudanese army in Darfur, has sparked alarmed warnings from the United States. and United Nations officials who fear a massive bloodbath is imminent. Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. envoy to the United Nations, told reporters Monday that the city was "on the brink of a full-scale massacre."

El Fasher is the latest flashpoint in a year-old civil war between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces, a powerful paramilitary group that the army once nurtured and is now its bitter rival for power . The conflict has devastated one of Africa's largest countries and created a vast humanitarian crisis that U.N. officials say is one of the largest in decades.

The crisis also highlights the role of foreign powers accused of fueling the struggle, notably the United Arab Emirates.

Since the 14 In April, fighters loyal to the Rapid Support Forces, or R.S.F., surrounded El Fasher, preparing for what the U.N. called an “imminent assault.” El Fasher, the former capital of the pre-colonial kingdom of Darfur, has around 1.8 million inhabitants, including hundreds of thousands who fled previous waves of fighting.

The city is the last obstacle to the R.S.F. total. domination of the region. Its fighters swept through Darfur last fall and now control four of the region's five major cities.

The map locates the Darfur region of Sudan.

AUDI

ARABIA

200 MILES

EGYPT

Nil

Red

Wed

Port Sudan

SUDAN

CHA...