Over 60,000 Escape Sudanese City After Capture by Rapid Support Forces Paramilitary Group, United Nations States
As stated by the UN refugee agency, more than 60,000 people have left the Sudanese city of el-Fasher, which was taken over by the paramilitary RSF during the weekend.
There have been summary killings and atrocities as paramilitary forces entered the city after an year-and-a-half encirclement marked by famine and sustained attacks.
The movement of those fleeing the fighting towards the community of Tawila, about 80km (50 miles) to the west of el-Fasher, had grown in the recent days, per United Nations refugee agency representative.
Survivors were describing terrible tales of atrocities, featuring rape, and the humanitarian group was struggling to find sufficient accommodation and nourishment for them.
Each child was suffering from malnutrition, she added.
Estimates suggest that over 150,000 individuals are currently trapped in el-Fasher, which had been the military's last bastion in the western region of Darfur.
The Rapid Support Forces has denied broad claims that the killings in el-Fasher are ethnically motivated and follow a pattern of the Arab fighters focusing on non-Arab populations.
Nevertheless the RSF has detained one of its militiamen, Abu Lulu, who has been implicated in on-the-spot executions.
The group shared recordings showing the fighter's apprehension after identification that he was behind the execution of multiple civilians in the vicinity of el-Fasher.
Digital platform has acknowledged that it has suspended the account linked to Lulu. It is not clear whether he had controlled the account in his identity.
Sudan was thrown into a civil war in April 2023 after a intense power struggle broke out between its military and the Rapid Support Forces.
This has led to a food crisis and accusations of genocide in the western Sudan.
In excess of 150,000 people have lost their lives in the war across the country, and about 12 million have abandoned their homes in what the UN has described as the biggest global humanitarian crisis.
The capture of el-Fasher reinforces the regional separation in the country, with the Rapid Support Forces now in command of western Sudan and a large portion of neighbouring Kordofan to the south, and the army holding the main city, Khartoum, the center and east along the Red Sea.
The two warring rivals had been collaborators - gaining control together in a takeover in 2021 - but fell out over an internationally backed proposal to move towards civilian leadership.