In excess of 60,000 Run from Sudanese City In the wake of Seizure by RSF Paramilitary Group, UN States
According to the UNHCR, over 60,000 individuals have escaped the Sudanese city of el-Fasher, which was taken over by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces over the weekend.
Reports indicate summary killings and crimes against humanity as militia members took control of the city after an 18-month siege marked by famine and sustained attacks.
The flow of those running from the fighting towards the town of Tawila, roughly 80km (50 miles) west of el-Fasher, had grown in the last several days, according to UNHCR representative.
Survivors were telling shocking stories of abuses, such as sexual violence, and the organization was having trouble to find enough housing and food for them.
Each child was experiencing undernourishment, she added.
Estimates suggest that over 150,000 people are presently stranded in el-Fasher, which had been the military's remaining bastion in the western region of Darfur.
The Rapid Support Forces has denied extensive allegations that the deaths in el-Fasher are ethnically motivated and follow a practice of the Arab fighters attacking non-Arab communities.
Yet the RSF has arrested one of its militiamen, Abu Lulu, who has been implicated in summary executions.
The group shared video revealing the member's arrest following verification that he was behind the killing of multiple civilians in the vicinity of el-Fasher.
Social media platform has confirmed that it has removed the channel connected to Lulu. It is not clear whether he had managed the profile in his name.
Sudan was entered a internal conflict in April 2023 when a intense struggle for power broke out between its army and the Rapid Support Forces.
The conflict has caused a food crisis and claims of mass killing in the western Sudan.
Over 150,000 people have been killed in the fighting throughout the country, and roughly 12 million have abandoned their residences in what the United Nations has described as the biggest global humanitarian disaster.
The capture of el-Fasher strengthens the geographic split in the country, with the RSF now in dominance of Sudan's west and a large portion of bordering Kordofan to the south, and the military holding the main city, Khartoum, the center and east along the coastal region.
The competing factions had been partners - gaining control together in a seizure of power in 2021 - but disagreed over an internationally backed plan to move towards civilian rule.
