Nearly 82,000 people have fled El Fasher since late October, many trudging toward Tawila, itself already overcrowded with the displaced.

Local doctors report treating more than 1,300 people shot while fleeing, an emblem of a war that spares no one.

Across the border, Chad, already sheltering 1.4 million Sudanese refugees, braces for another surge.

For the region, each new wave strains water, food, and patience to the breaking point.