The women at the community kitchen in the besieged Sudanese city of el-Fasher are sitting in huddles of desperation.

"Our children are dying before our eyes," one of them tells the BBC.

"We don't know what to do. They are innocent. They have nothing to do with the army or [its paramilitary rival] the Rapid Support Forces. Our suffering is worse than what you can imagine."

Food is so scarce in el-Fasher that prices have soared to the point where money that used to cover a week's worth of meals can now buy only one. International aid organisations have condemned the "calculated use of starvation as a weapon of war".

The BBC has obtained rare footage of people still trapped in the city, sent to us by a local activist and filmed by a freelance cameraman.

The Sudanese army has been battling the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) for more than two years after their commanders jointly staged a coup, and then fell out.

El-Fasher, in the western Darfur region, is one of the most brutal frontlines in the conflict.

The hunger crisis is compounded by a surge of cholera sweeping through the squalid camps of those displaced by the fighting, which escalated this week into one of the most intense RSF attacks on the city yet.

The paramilitaries tightened their 14-month blockade after losing control of the capital Khartoum earlier this year, and stepped up their battle for el-Fasher, the last foothold of the armed forces in Darfur.

In the north and centre of the country where the army has wrestled back territory from the RSF, food and medical aid have begun to make a dent in civilian suffering.

But the situation is desperate in the conflict zones of western and southern Sudan.

• Sudan war: A simple guide to what is happening

At the Matbakh-al-Khair communal kitchen in el-Fasher late last month, volunteers turned ambaz into a porridge. This is the residue of peanuts after the oil has been extracted, normally fed to animals.

Sometimes it is possible to find sorghum or millet but on the day of filming, the kitchen manager says: "There is no flour or bread."

"Now we've reached the point of eating ambaz. May God relieve us of this calamity, there's nothing left in the market to buy," he adds.

The UN has amplified its appeal for a humanitarian pause to allow food convoys into the city, with its Sudan envoy Sheldon Yett once more demanding this week that the warring sides observe their obligations under international law.

The army has given clearance for the trucks to proceed but the UN is still waiting for official word from the paramilitary group.

RSF advisers have said they believed the truce would be used to facilitate the delivery of food and ammunition to the army's "besieged militias" inside el-Fasher.

They have also claimed the paramilitary group and its allies were setting up "safe routes" for civilians to leave the city.

Local responders in el-Fasher can receive some emergency cash via a digital banking system, but it does not go very far.

"The prices in the markets have exploded," says Mathilde Vu, advocacy manager for the Norwegian Refugee Council.

"Today, $5,000 [£3,680] covers one meal for 1,500 people in a single day. Three months ago, the same amount could feed them for an entire week."

Doctors say people are dying of malnutrition. It is impossible to know how many - one report quoting a regional health official put the number at more than 60 last week.

Hospitals cannot cope. Few are still operating. They have been damaged by shelling and are short of medical supplies to help both the starving, and those injured in the continual bombardment.

"We have many malnourished children admitted in hospital but unfortunately there is no single sachet of [therapeutic food]," says Dr Ibrahim Abdullah Khater, a paediatrician at the Al Saudi Hospital, noting that the five severely malnourished children currently in the ward also have medical complications.

"They are just waiting for their death," he says.

When hunger crises hit, those who usually die first are the most vulnerable, the least healthy or those suffering from pre-existing conditions.

"The situation, it is so miserable, it is so catastrophic," the doctor tells us in a voice message.

"The children of el-Fasher are dying on a daily basis due to lack of food, lack of medicine. Unfortunately, the international community is just watching."

International non-governmental organisations working in Sudan issued an urgent statement this week declaring that "sustained attacks, obstruction of aid and targeting of critical infrastructure demonstrate a deliberate strategy to break the civilian population through hunger, fear, and exhaustion".

They said that "anecdotal reports of recent food hoarding for military use add to the suffering of civilians".

"There is no safe passage out of the city, with roads blocked and those attempting to flee facing attacks, taxation at checkpoints, community-based discrimination and death," the organisations said.

Hundreds of thousands of people did flee in recent months, many from the Zamzam displaced persons camp at the edge of el-Fasher, seized by the RSF in April.

They arrive in Tawila, a town 60km (37 miles) west of the city, weak and dehydrated, with accounts of violence and extortion along the road from RSF-allied groups.

Life is safer in the crowded camps, but they are stalked by disease - most deadly of all: cholera.

It is caused by polluted water and has killed hundreds in Sudan, triggered by the destruction of water infrastructure and lack of food and medical care, and made worse by flooding due to the rainy season.

Unlike el-Fasher, in Tawila aid workers at least have access, but their supplies are limited, says John Joseph Ocheibi, the on-site project coordinator for a group called The Alliance for International Medical Action.

"We have shortages in terms of [washing facilities], in terms of medical supplies, to be able to deal with this situation," he tells the BBC. "We are mobilizing resources to see how best we can be able to respond."

Sylvain Penicaud of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) estimates there are only three litres of water per person per day in the camps, which, he says, is "way below the basic need, and forces people to get water from contaminated sources".

Zubaida Ismail Ishaq is lying in the tent clinic. She is seven months pregnant, gaunt and exhausted. Her story is a tale of trauma told by many.

She tells us she used to trade when she had a little money, before fleeing el-Fasher.

Her husband was captured by armed men on the road to Tawila. Her daughter has a head injury.

Zubaida and her mother came down with cholera shortly after arriving in the camp.

"We drink water without boiling it," she says. "We have no-one to get us water. Since coming here, I have nothing left."

Back in el-Fasher we hear appeals for help from the women clustered at the soup kitchen - any kind of help.

"We're exhausted. We want this siege lifted," says Faiza Abkar Mohammed. "Even if they airdrop food, airdrop anything - we're completely exhausted."

You may also be interested in:

• 'I lost a baby and then rescued a child dodging air strikes in Sudan's civil war'
• Oil-rich Sudanese region becomes new focus of war between army and rival forces
• Sudan in danger of self-destructing as conflict and famine reign

Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent.

Follow us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica

The Princess of Wales has encouraged people to "cherish the bonds of love and friendship" this summer, as part of her Mother Nature video series.

In an Instagram post, Catherine narrates over clips showing natural landscapes and people enjoying the sunshine at the beach and in parks.

It is the second such post from the princess this year - she launched the series in May with a special message for Mother's Day.

Catherine has been making a gradual return to public duties since completing chemotherapy treatment last summer.

Most recently she attended both Wimbledon tennis finals, as patron of the All England Lawn Tennis Club, and Colchester Hospital's Wellbeing Garden - both in July.

Alongside the video, which was posted to the princess' official Instagram account on Wednesday, she wrote: "It has never been more important to appreciate the value of one another, and of Mother Nature. Here's to Summer."

The scenery featured was shot at locations in Sheffield, Bradford, North Wales and Anglesey and the south coast.

As part of her narration, Catherine describes summer as the "season for abundance", saying that "as the flowers bloom and the fruits ripen, we too are reminded of our own potential for growth".

A group of dancers from The Royal Ballet School, who performed in a Westminster Abbey carol service hosted by the princess last year, are also featured.

The video concludes with Catherine encouraging us to "embrace the joy to be found in even the most fleeting of moments and shared experiences".

Unlike the first video in the series, published earlier this year, the Prince of Wales does not feature.

In that one, there were shots of the pair walking their dogs in Norfolk. Catherine also alluded to her cancer battle, saying nature had been her family's "sanctuary" for the past year.

Peru's president has signed a controversial new law pardoning soldiers, police and civilian militias on trial for atrocities during the country's two-decade armed conflict against Maoist rebels.

Dina Boluarte enacted the measure that was passed by Congress in July, despite an order from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights to suspend it pending a review of its impact on victims.

The law will benefit hundreds of members of the armed forces, police and self-defence committees accused of crimes committed between 1980 and 2000.

It will also mandate the release of those over 70 serving sentences for such offences.

During the conflict, the Shining Path and Tupac Amaru rebel groups waged insurgencies in which an estimated 70,000 people were killed and more than 20,000 disappeared, according to Peru's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).

Boluarte, elected in 2022 as the the country's first female president, said the Peruvian government was paying tribute to the forces who - she said - fought against terrorism and in defence of democracy.

Human rights organisations have condemned the law. Juanita Goebertus, Americas director at Human Rights Watch, called it "a betrayal of Peruvian victims" that "undermines decades of efforts to ensure accountability for atrocities".

United Nations experts and Amnesty International had urged Boluarte to veto the bill, saying that it violated Peru's duty to investigate and prosecute grave abuses including extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, torture and sexual violence.

UN experts said the amnesty could halt or overturn more than 600 pending trials and 156 convictions.

The TRC found that state agents, notably the armed forces, were responsible for 83% of documented sexual violence cases.

Last year, Peru adopted a statute of limitations for crimes against humanity committed before 2002, effectively shutting down hundreds of investigations into alleged crimes committed during the fighting.

The initiative benefited late president Alberto Fujimori, who was jailed for atrocities - including the massacre of civilians by the army - but released from prison in 2023 on humanitarian grounds. He died in September 2024.

Meanwhile, former president Martin Vizcarra was ordered on Wednesday to be held in preventative detention for five months over allegations he received $640,000 in bribes while governor of Moquegua between 2011 and 2014.

He is the fifth former president to be jailed in corruption investigations.

The women at the community kitchen in the besieged Sudanese city of el-Fasher are sitting in huddles of desperation.

"Our children are dying before our eyes," one of them tells the BBC.

"We don't know what to do. They are innocent. They have nothing to do with the army or [its paramilitary rival] the Rapid Support Forces. Our suffering is worse than what you can imagine."

Food is so scarce in el-Fasher that prices have soared to the point where money that used to cover a week's worth of meals can now buy only one. International aid organisations have condemned the "calculated use of starvation as a weapon of war".

The BBC has obtained rare footage of people still trapped in the city, sent to us by a local activist and filmed by a freelance cameraman.

The Sudanese army has been battling the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) for more than two years after their commanders jointly staged a coup, and then fell out.

El-Fasher, in the western Darfur region, is one of the most brutal frontlines in the conflict.

The hunger crisis is compounded by a surge of cholera sweeping through the squalid camps of those displaced by the fighting, which escalated this week into one of the most intense RSF attacks on the city yet.

The paramilitaries tightened their 14-month blockade after losing control of the capital Khartoum earlier this year, and stepped up their battle for el-Fasher, the last foothold of the armed forces in Darfur.

In the north and centre of the country where the army has wrestled back territory from the RSF, food and medical aid have begun to make a dent in civilian suffering.

But the situation is desperate in the conflict zones of western and southern Sudan.

• Sudan war: A simple guide to what is happening

At the Matbakh-al-Khair communal kitchen in el-Fasher late last month, volunteers turned ambaz into a porridge. This is the residue of peanuts after the oil has been extracted, normally fed to animals.

Sometimes it is possible to find sorghum or millet but on the day of filming, the kitchen manager says: "There is no flour or bread."

"Now we've reached the point of eating ambaz. May God relieve us of this calamity, there's nothing left in the market to buy," he adds.

The UN has amplified its appeal for a humanitarian pause to allow food convoys into the city, with its Sudan envoy Sheldon Yett once more demanding this week that the warring sides observe their obligations under international law.

The army has given clearance for the trucks to proceed but the UN is still waiting for official word from the paramilitary group.

RSF advisers have said they believed the truce would be used to facilitate the delivery of food and ammunition to the army's "besieged militias" inside el-Fasher.

They have also claimed the paramilitary group and its allies were setting up "safe routes" for civilians to leave the city.

Local responders in el-Fasher can receive some emergency cash via a digital banking system, but it does not go very far.

"The prices in the markets have exploded," says Mathilde Vu, advocacy manager for the Norwegian Refugee Council.

"Today, $5,000 [£3,680] covers one meal for 1,500 people in a single day. Three months ago, the same amount could feed them for an entire week."

Doctors say people are dying of malnutrition. It is impossible to know how many - one report quoting a regional health official put the number at more than 60 last week.

Hospitals cannot cope. Few are still operating. They have been damaged by shelling and are short of medical supplies to help both the starving, and those injured in the continual bombardment.

"We have many malnourished children admitted in hospital but unfortunately there is no single sachet of [therapeutic food]," says Dr Ibrahim Abdullah Khater, a paediatrician at the Al Saudi Hospital, noting that the five severely malnourished children currently in the ward also have medical complications.

"They are just waiting for their death," he says.

When hunger crises hit, those who usually die first are the most vulnerable, the least healthy or those suffering from pre-existing conditions.

"The situation, it is so miserable, it is so catastrophic," the doctor tells us in a voice message.

"The children of el-Fasher are dying on a daily basis due to lack of food, lack of medicine. Unfortunately, the international community is just watching."

International non-governmental organisations working in Sudan issued an urgent statement this week declaring that "sustained attacks, obstruction of aid and targeting of critical infrastructure demonstrate a deliberate strategy to break the civilian population through hunger, fear, and exhaustion".

They said that "anecdotal reports of recent food hoarding for military use add to the suffering of civilians".

"There is no safe passage out of the city, with roads blocked and those attempting to flee facing attacks, taxation at checkpoints, community-based discrimination and death," the organisations said.

Hundreds of thousands of people did flee in recent months, many from the Zamzam displaced persons camp at the edge of el-Fasher, seized by the RSF in April.

They arrive in Tawila, a town 60km (37 miles) west of the city, weak and dehydrated, with accounts of violence and extortion along the road from RSF-allied groups.

Life is safer in the crowded camps, but they are stalked by disease - most deadly of all: cholera.

It is caused by polluted water and has killed hundreds in Sudan, triggered by the destruction of water infrastructure and lack of food and medical care, and made worse by flooding due to the rainy season.

Unlike el-Fasher, in Tawila aid workers at least have access, but their supplies are limited, says John Joseph Ocheibi, the on-site project coordinator for a group called The Alliance for International Medical Action.

"We have shortages in terms of [washing facilities], in terms of medical supplies, to be able to deal with this situation," he tells the BBC. "We are mobilizing resources to see how best we can be able to respond."

Sylvain Penicaud of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) estimates there are only three litres of water per person per day in the camps, which, he says, is "way below the basic need, and forces people to get water from contaminated sources".

Zubaida Ismail Ishaq is lying in the tent clinic. She is seven months pregnant, gaunt and exhausted. Her story is a tale of trauma told by many.

She tells us she used to trade when she had a little money, before fleeing el-Fasher.

Her husband was captured by armed men on the road to Tawila. Her daughter has a head injury.

Zubaida and her mother came down with cholera shortly after arriving in the camp.

"We drink water without boiling it," she says. "We have no-one to get us water. Since coming here, I have nothing left."

Back in el-Fasher we hear appeals for help from the women clustered at the soup kitchen - any kind of help.

"We're exhausted. We want this siege lifted," says Faiza Abkar Mohammed. "Even if they airdrop food, airdrop anything - we're completely exhausted."

You may also be interested in:

• 'I lost a baby and then rescued a child dodging air strikes in Sudan's civil war'
• Oil-rich Sudanese region becomes new focus of war between army and rival forces
• Sudan in danger of self-destructing as conflict and famine reign

Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent.

Follow us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica

European leaders appeared cautiously optimistic after holding a virtual meeting with Donald Trump on Wednesday, two days before he meets his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Alaska to discuss ending the war in Ukraine.

Trump reportedly told the Europeans that his goal for the summit was to obtain a ceasefire between Moscow and Kyiv.

He also agreed that any territorial issues had to be decided with Volodymyr Zelensky's involvement, and that security guarantees had to be part of the deal, according to France's Emmanuel Macron.

Speaking to Trump had allowed him to "clarify his intentions" and gave the Europeans a chance to "express our expectations," Macron said.

Trump and Vice-President JD Vance spoke to the leaders of the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Finland and Poland as well as EU chief Ursula von der Leyen and Nato chief Mark Rutte.

The Europeans have been sidelined from the hastily organised summit in Alaska and their phone call today was a last-ditch attempt to keep Ukraine's interests and the continent's security at the forefront of Trump's mind.

To an extent, it seemed to work. On Wednesday evening Trump rated the meeting "a ten" and said Russia would face "very severe" consequences unless it halted its war in Ukraine.

He also said that if Friday's meeting went well he would try and organise a "quick second one" involving both Putin and Zelensky.

Still, in their statements European leaders restated the need for Kyiv to be involved in any final decision – betraying an underlying nervousness that Putin could ultimately persuade Trump to concede Ukrainian land in exchange for a ceasefire.

"It's most important thing that Europe convinces Donald Trump that one can't trust Russia," said Poland's Donald Tusk, while German Chancellor Friedrich Merz stressed the leaders had "made it clear that Ukraine must be at the table as soon as follow-up meetings take place".

If the Russian side refused to make any concessions, "then the United States and we Europeans should and must increase the pressure," Merz said.

Since the US-Russia summit was announced last week, Trump has made several references to "land-swapping" between Kyiv and Moscow – sparking serious concerns in Ukraine and beyond that he could be preparing to give in to Putin's longstanding demand to seize large swathes of Ukrainian territory.

On Wednesday morning Russia's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Alexey Fadeev reiterated that Russia's stance had not changed since Putin set it out in June 2024.

At the time Putin said a ceasefire would start the minute the Ukrainian government withdrew from four regions partially occupied by Russia - Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. He also said Ukraine would need to officially give up in its efforts to join the Nato military alliance.

• What to know about Trump and Putin's meeting at an Alaska military base
• Why did Putin's Russia invade Ukraine?

These are maximalist demands which neither Kyiv nor its European partners see as viable.

Zelensky has said he is convinced that Russia would use any region it was allowed to keep as a springboard for future invasions.

A way to counter this threat could be security guarantees - intended as commitments to ensure Ukraine's long-term defence.

In statements issued after the phone call with Trump, several European leaders said such guarantees had been mentioned and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that "real progress" had been made in that respect.

Since the spring the UK and France have been spearheading efforts to create a so-called "Coalition of the Willing" - a group of nations who have pledged to deter Russia from further invading Ukraine.

On Wednesday the group said it stood "ready to play an active role" including by deploying "a reassurance force once hostilities have ceased" - although the shape, composition and role of such a force is yet unclear.

Meanwhile, on the front lines, Russia's summer offensive continues to press on. Referencing the sudden advance of Moscow's troops near Dobropillya, in the embattled Donetsk region, Zelensky said Putin was pretending that sanctions were not effective at damaging the Russian economy.

"I told Trump and our European allies that Putin is bluffing," the Ukrainian president said, urging them to apply "more pressure" on Russia.

For his part, Trump appeared to admit that even when he meets Putin face-to-face he may not be able to get him to stop killing civilians in Ukraine.

"I've had that conversation with him... but then I go home and see that a rocket has hit a nursing home or an apartment building and people are lying dead in the street.

"So I guess the answer to that is probably no."

European leaders appeared cautiously optimistic after holding a virtual meeting with Donald Trump on Wednesday, two days before he meets his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Alaska to discuss ending the war in Ukraine.

Trump reportedly told the Europeans that his goal for the summit was to obtain a ceasefire between Moscow and Kyiv.

He also agreed that any territorial issues had to be decided with Volodymyr Zelensky's involvement, and that security guarantees had to be part of the deal, according to France's Emmanuel Macron.

Speaking to Trump had allowed him to "clarify his intentions" and gave the Europeans a chance to "express our expectations," Macron said.

Trump and Vice-President JD Vance spoke to the leaders of the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Finland and Poland as well as EU chief Ursula von der Leyen and Nato chief Mark Rutte.

The Europeans have been sidelined from the hastily organised summit in Alaska and their phone call today was a last-ditch attempt to keep Ukraine's interests and the continent's security at the forefront of Trump's mind.

To an extent, it seemed to work. On Wednesday evening Trump rated the meeting "a ten" and said Russia would face "very severe" consequences unless it halted its war in Ukraine.

He also said that if Friday's meeting went well he would try and organise a "quick second one" involving both Putin and Zelensky.

Still, in their statements European leaders restated the need for Kyiv to be involved in any final decision – betraying an underlying nervousness that Putin could ultimately persuade Trump to concede Ukrainian land in exchange for a ceasefire.

"It's most important thing that Europe convinces Donald Trump that one can't trust Russia," said Poland's Donald Tusk, while German Chancellor Friedrich Merz stressed the leaders had "made it clear that Ukraine must be at the table as soon as follow-up meetings take place".

If the Russian side refused to make any concessions, "then the United States and we Europeans should and must increase the pressure," Merz said.

Since the US-Russia summit was announced last week, Trump has made several references to "land-swapping" between Kyiv and Moscow – sparking serious concerns in Ukraine and beyond that he could be preparing to give in to Putin's longstanding demand to seize large swathes of Ukrainian territory.

On Wednesday morning Russia's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Alexey Fadeev reiterated that Russia's stance had not changed since Putin set it out in June 2024.

At the time Putin said a ceasefire would start the minute the Ukrainian government withdrew from four regions partially occupied by Russia - Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. He also said Ukraine would need to officially give up in its efforts to join the Nato military alliance.

• What to know about Trump and Putin's meeting at an Alaska military base
• Why did Putin's Russia invade Ukraine?

These are maximalist demands which neither Kyiv nor its European partners see as viable.

Zelensky has said he is convinced that Russia would use any region it was allowed to keep as a springboard for future invasions.

A way to counter this threat could be security guarantees - intended as commitments to ensure Ukraine's long-term defence.

In statements issued after the phone call with Trump, several European leaders said such guarantees had been mentioned and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that "real progress" had been made in that respect.

Since the spring the UK and France have been spearheading efforts to create a so-called "Coalition of the Willing" - a group of nations who have pledged to deter Russia from further invading Ukraine.

On Wednesday the group said it stood "ready to play an active role" including by deploying "a reassurance force once hostilities have ceased" - although the shape, composition and role of such a force is yet unclear.

Meanwhile, on the front lines, Russia's summer offensive continues to press on. Referencing the sudden advance of Moscow's troops near Dobropillya, in the embattled Donetsk region, Zelensky said Putin was pretending that sanctions were not effective at damaging the Russian economy.

"I told Trump and our European allies that Putin is bluffing," the Ukrainian president said, urging them to apply "more pressure" on Russia.

For his part, Trump appeared to admit that even when he meets Putin face-to-face he may not be able to get him to stop killing civilians in Ukraine.

"I've had that conversation with him... but then I go home and see that a rocket has hit a nursing home or an apartment building and people are lying dead in the street.

"So I guess the answer to that is probably no."