More than 60,000 Run from Sudanese City In the wake of Capture by RSF Paramilitary Group, United Nations States
As stated by the UNHCR, over 60,000 civilians have left the Sudanese city of el-Fasher, which was seized by the paramilitary RSF during the weekend.
Accounts suggest summary killings and human rights violations as paramilitary forces took control of the city after an year-and-a-half siege featuring starvation and sustained attacks.
The flow of those fleeing the violence towards the town of Tawila, about 80km (50 miles) west of el-Fasher, had grown in the past few days, per United Nations refugee agency spokesperson.
They were telling shocking tales of violence, featuring rape, and the humanitarian group was struggling to find sufficient accommodation and supplies for them.
Each child was experiencing nutritional deficiencies, she commented.
It is estimated that over 150,000 residents are still unable to leave in el-Fasher, which had been the military's remaining bastion in the western part of Darfur.
The Rapid Support Forces has disputed widespread accusations that the deaths in el-Fasher are ethnically motivated and mirror a pattern of the Arab paramilitaries targeting non-Arab populations.
However the paramilitary group has custodied one of its members, Abu Lulu, who has been implicated in summary executions.
The force distributed recordings showing the member's detention after confirmation that he was behind the death of multiple civilians close to el-Fasher.
Video sharing service has verified that it has removed the channel associated with Lulu. It is not clear whether he had operated the account in his identity.
Sudan was entered a internal conflict in April 2023 following a intense power struggle began between its army and the Rapid Support Forces.
This has led to a famine and accusations of genocide in the western Darfur region.
More than 150,000 people have been killed in the fighting throughout the country, and approximately 12 million have abandoned their dwellings in what the United Nations has described as the world's largest humanitarian crisis.
The takeover of el-Fasher strengthens the territorial division in the country, with the RSF now in dominance of the western region and a large portion of neighbouring Kordofan to the south, and the military occupying the capital, Khartoum, the center and east along the Red Sea.
The competing factions had been partners - coming to power together in a coup in 2021 - but split over an internationally backed proposal to advance to civilian rule.