More than 300 civilians have died in Shala prison southwest of El Fasher in Sudan's North Darfur state over the past two months due to severe medical neglect, starvation, and a raging cholera outbreak, according to local activist group Popular Resistance.
The facility, seized by Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitaries in late October 2025 after overrunning the city following a 550-day siege, now holds an estimated 9,000 detainees—mostly wounded civilians from El Fasher shelling—in inhumane conditions. Victims succumbed to untreated injuries turning gangrenous, maggot infestations, and infections, with cholera claiming 5-10 lives weekly. Bodies reportedly lie unburied for days before forced prisoner burials in the prison yard. The group accuses RSF of denying basic healthcare, food, and water, exacerbating a "catastrophic" humanitarian crisis post-El Fasher fall.
RSF has not commented, but prior reports detail widespread executions, rapes, and looting during the city's capture, displacing most of its 260,000 residents. UN agencies warn of famine and disease spreading to remaining camps, calling for access. Activists demand international intervention as weekly deaths continue amid Sudan's civil war, now over 100,000 total fatalities.
