In excess of 60,000 Escape Sudanese City After Capture by RSF Paramilitary Group, UN Says
Per the UN refugee agency, more than 60,000 civilians have left the city in Sudan of el-Fasher, which was seized by the militia RSF over the weekend.
Reports indicate mass executions and human rights violations as RSF fighters took control of the city following an year-and-a-half encirclement characterized by famine and sustained attacks.
The movement of those escaping the conflict towards the community of Tawila, roughly 80km (50 miles) west of el-Fasher, had increased in the past few days, as stated by UNHCR representative.
They were describing terrible stories of abuses, such as rape, and the agency was having trouble to find sufficient shelter and nourishment for them.
Every child was experiencing undernourishment, she noted.
Calculations indicate that more than 150,000 people are still trapped in el-Fasher, which had been the military's remaining stronghold in the western region of Darfur.
The Rapid Support Forces has rejected widespread allegations that the executions in el-Fasher are driven by ethnicity and mirror a trend of the Arab paramilitaries attacking ethnic minorities.
However the paramilitary group has detained one of its members, Abu Lulu, who has been charged with summary executions.
The organization released recordings showing the member's arrest after confirmation that he was behind the killing of several unarmed men close to el-Fasher.
Social media platform has acknowledged that it has removed the profile linked to Lulu. It is not clear whether he had controlled the profile in his name.
Sudan was entered a civil war in April 2023 following a vicious struggle for power broke out between its army and the RSF.
It has led to a food crisis and allegations of genocide in the Darfur area.
More than 150,000 individuals have been killed in the conflict across the country, and about 12 million have fled their residences in what the United Nations has termed the most extensive humanitarian emergency.
The seizure of el-Fasher reinforces the territorial division in the country, with the RSF now in dominance of Sudan's west and a large portion of bordering Kordofan to the southern area, and the army controlling the capital, Khartoum, the center and east along the Red Sea.
The opposing sides had been collaborators - coming to power together in a coup in 2021 - but split over an globally supported initiative to advance to civilian rule.