More than 60,000 Run from Sudan's City After Seizure by Rapid Support Forces Paramilitary Group, UN Says
As stated by the UNHCR, more than 60,000 people have fled the Sudanese city of el-Fasher, which was taken over by the paramilitary RSF recently.
Accounts suggest mass executions and human rights violations as RSF fighters entered the city after an 18-month blockade characterized by starvation and heavy bombardment.
The movement of those escaping the conflict towards the community of Tawila, roughly 80km (50 miles) west of el-Fasher, had grown in the past few days, per United Nations refugee agency representative.
They were narrating terrible tales of atrocities, including sexual violence, and the organization was finding it difficult to locate enough housing and nourishment for them.
Every child was suffering from undernourishment, she noted.
Calculations indicate that over 150,000 people are still unable to leave in el-Fasher, which had been the army's last bastion in the western part of Darfur.
The RSF has denied widespread claims that the killings in el-Fasher are driven by ethnicity and follow a pattern of the Arab fighters attacking non-Arab communities.
Yet the paramilitary group has custodied one of its members, Abu Lulu, who has been charged with extrajudicial killings.
The organization distributed recordings showing the fighter's detention subsequent to confirmation that he was involved in the death of several non-combatants in the vicinity of el-Fasher.
Video sharing service has confirmed that it has banned the account associated with Lulu. The status remains unclear whether he had controlled the account in his name.
Sudan was thrown into a internal conflict in April 2023 after a brutal contest for control broke out between its army and the RSF.
The conflict has resulted in a famine and claims of mass killing in the western Sudan.
In excess of 150,000 individuals have died in the war throughout the country, and approximately 12 million have left their residences in what the United Nations has termed the world's largest humanitarian disaster.
The seizure of el-Fasher reinforces the geographic split in the country, with the Rapid Support Forces now in control of the western region and significant areas of adjacent Kordofan to the south, and the army controlling the capital, Khartoum, the center and east along the coastal region.
The two warring rivals had been partners - taking over together in a coup in 2021 - but disagreed over an internationally backed plan to advance to civilian rule.
