In excess of 60,000 Run from Sudanese City In the wake of Capture by Rapid Support Forces Paramilitary Group, UN Reports
According to the United Nations refugee organization, over 60,000 individuals have escaped the Sudanese city of el-Fasher, which was captured by the militia RSF over the weekend.
There have been multiple executions and human rights violations as paramilitary forces entered the city following an 18-month blockade marked by food shortages and intense shelling.
The flow of those escaping the violence towards the town of Tawila, about 80km (50 miles) west of el-Fasher, had grown in the last several days, per United Nations refugee agency representative.
Survivors were narrating terrible stories of abuses, including rape, and the agency was having trouble to secure sufficient shelter and food for them.
Every child was affected by malnutrition, she added.
Calculations indicate that over 150,000 individuals are presently unable to leave in el-Fasher, which had been the army's last fortress in the western part of Darfur.
The RSF has denied widespread allegations that the killings in el-Fasher are driven by ethnicity and follow a pattern of the Arab fighters focusing on ethnic minorities.
Yet the paramilitary group has custodied one of its members, Abu Lulu, who has been charged with on-the-spot executions.
The group distributed recordings depicting the member's detention subsequent to verification that he was involved in the execution of numerous non-combatants in the vicinity of el-Fasher.
Video sharing service has verified that it has removed the profile linked to Lulu. It is not clear whether he had controlled the account in his name.
Sudan was entered a domestic fighting in April 2023 when a intense struggle for power began between its army and the RSF.
It has led to a starvation emergency and claims of mass killing in the western Darfur region.
Over 150,000 people have died in the fighting throughout the country, and roughly 12 million have abandoned their dwellings in what the UN has described as the biggest global humanitarian disaster.
The seizure of el-Fasher strengthens the geographic split in the country, with the RSF now in control of western Sudan and significant areas of neighbouring Kordofan to the south, and the army holding the capital, Khartoum, the center and east along the Red Sea.
The opposing sides had been allies - coming to power together in a coup in 2021 - but disagreed over an foreign-endorsed initiative to advance to democratic governance.
