In excess of 60,000 Escape Sudan's City In the wake of Capture by Rapid Support Forces Paramilitary Group, United Nations States
According to the UNHCR, more than 60,000 civilians have escaped the Sudanese city of el-Fasher, which was taken over by the militia RSF over the weekend.
There have been multiple executions and atrocities as militia members entered the city following an extended blockade marked by food shortages and heavy bombardment.
The flow of those running from the violence towards the town of Tawila, about 80km (50 miles) west of el-Fasher, had grown in the recent days, as stated by UNHCR spokesperson.
Survivors were narrating terrible accounts of violence, featuring rape, and the agency was having trouble to secure adequate housing and nourishment for them.
All children was experiencing undernourishment, she noted.
Calculations indicate that over 150,000 residents are currently stranded in el-Fasher, which had been the army's last stronghold in the western part of Darfur.
The Rapid Support Forces has denied broad allegations that the deaths in el-Fasher are driven by ethnicity and mirror a practice of the Arab fighters attacking non-Arab communities.
Yet the paramilitary group has detained one of its militiamen, Abu Lulu, who has been implicated in summary executions.
The force released recordings depicting the fighter's arrest following verification that he was responsible for the killing of multiple non-combatants in the vicinity of el-Fasher.
Video sharing service has confirmed that it has removed the account linked to Lulu. The status remains unclear whether he had controlled the account in his name.
Sudan was entered a civil war in April 2023 when a vicious power struggle erupted between its army and the RSF.
The conflict has led to a starvation emergency and claims of genocide in the Darfur area.
More than 150,000 people have been killed in the conflict throughout the country, and approximately 12 million have left their homes in what the UN has termed the world's largest humanitarian crisis.
The seizure of el-Fasher strengthens the geographic split in the country, with the Rapid Support Forces now in dominance of the western region and much of adjacent Kordofan to the southern area, and the military holding the main city, Khartoum, the center and east along the Red Sea.
The two warring rivals had been allies - coming to power together in a takeover in 2021 - but fell out over an foreign-endorsed proposal to transition to democratic governance.