Over 60,000 Flee Sudan's City After Capture by Rapid Support Forces Paramilitary Group, United Nations Says
As stated by the UNHCR, over 60,000 people have fled the city in Sudan of el-Fasher, which was taken over by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces over the weekend.
Reports indicate mass executions and atrocities as militia members took control of the city after an extended siege marked by famine and sustained attacks.
The movement of those running from the conflict towards the community of Tawila, roughly 80km (50 miles) to the west of el-Fasher, had accelerated in the last several days, according to UNHCR spokesperson.
Survivors were telling horrendous stories of atrocities, such as rape, and the organization was finding it difficult to find enough accommodation and supplies for them.
All children was suffering from malnutrition, she commented.
Calculations indicate that more than 150,000 people are presently stranded in el-Fasher, which had been the army's remaining bastion in the western region of Darfur.
The RSF has rejected broad allegations that the executions in el-Fasher are ethnically motivated and follow a pattern of the Arab fighters targeting non-Arab communities.
However the RSF has detained one of its fighters, Abu Lulu, who has been accused of on-the-spot executions.
The group shared recordings revealing the militiaman's detention following verification that he was involved in the death of numerous unarmed men in the vicinity of el-Fasher.
Social media platform has confirmed that it has banned the channel associated with Lulu. The status remains unclear whether he had controlled the account in his identity.
Sudan was plunged into a domestic fighting in April 2023 after a brutal power struggle erupted between its military and the Rapid Support Forces.
This has caused a food crisis and accusations of ethnic cleansing in the western Sudan.
Over 150,000 individuals have died in the conflict across the country, and roughly 12 million have abandoned their dwellings in what the UN has described as the world's largest humanitarian disaster.
The capture of el-Fasher reinforces the regional separation in the country, with the Rapid Support Forces now in command of western Sudan and significant areas of adjacent Kordofan to the south, and the military occupying the main city, Khartoum, central and eastern areas along the Red Sea.
The opposing sides had been collaborators - taking over together in a coup in 2021 - but disagreed over an internationally backed initiative to move towards civilian leadership.