More than 60,000 Flee Sudanese City After Takeover by Rapid Support Forces Paramilitary Group, UN Says
According to the UN refugee agency, over 60,000 people have left the Sudanese city of el-Fasher, which was captured by the militia RSF during the weekend.
Accounts suggest summary killings and atrocities as militia members stormed the city after an year-and-a-half siege featuring food shortages and sustained attacks.
The flow of those running from the fighting towards the community of Tawila, about 80km (50 miles) to the west of el-Fasher, had accelerated in the recent days, as stated by UNHCR representative.
Refugees were telling shocking stories of abuses, including rape, and the agency was having trouble to locate adequate shelter and supplies for them.
All children was experiencing undernourishment, she noted.
It is estimated that over 150,000 people are currently unable to leave in el-Fasher, which had been the army's remaining stronghold in the western part of Darfur.
The RSF has denied widespread accusations that the executions in el-Fasher are driven by ethnicity and mirror a practice of the Arab paramilitaries attacking ethnic minorities.
Yet the paramilitary group has detained one of its fighters, Abu Lulu, who has been accused of summary executions.
The force released video showing the member's apprehension after verification that he was involved in the execution of several non-combatants in the vicinity of el-Fasher.
Digital platform has acknowledged that it has suspended the profile associated with Lulu. The status remains unclear whether he had operated the profile in his identity.
Sudan was thrown into a domestic fighting in April 2023 when a vicious contest for control began between its military and the Rapid Support Forces.
The conflict has resulted in a famine and claims of ethnic cleansing in the western Darfur region.
In excess of 150,000 persons have been killed in the war throughout the country, and about 12 million have abandoned their dwellings in what the UN has described as the most extensive humanitarian disaster.
The seizure of el-Fasher reinforces the regional separation in the country, with the Rapid Support Forces now in command of the western region and significant areas of bordering Kordofan to the south, and the military controlling the capital, Khartoum, the center and east along the coastal region.
The two warring rivals had been collaborators - coming to power together in a coup in 2021 - but disagreed over an internationally backed plan to advance to democratic governance.