Nearly 90,000 civilians have fled north and west Darfur since late October, the UN reports, many heading for Chad.

In Kordofan, violence is spreading again.

Towns emptied during earlier offensives are once more on the move.

The UN’s deputy spokesman, Farhan Haq, described the situation as “desperate and deteriorating.”

Ramtane Lamamra, the Secretary-General’s envoy, has invited the warring parties to talk on civilian protection, with little success so far.

Aid convoys are repeatedly attacked, hospitals shelled, and staff forced to flee.

The humanitarian catastrophe has been made worse by climate stress.

Chad and South Sudan, two of the least equipped countries to cope, now host millions of Sudanese refugees.

In some camps, families survive on less than ten litres of water per person per day.

For those escaping Darfur, the choice is grim: hunger and heat in exile, or violence at home.

The world’s attention, once briefly fixed on Sudan, has largely moved on.

But for the people of El Fasher, the war has no pause and no safe horizon.