More than 60,000 Run from Sudanese City Following Capture by Rapid Support Forces Militia, UN Says
As stated by the UN refugee agency, in excess of 60,000 civilians have fled the Sudanese city of el-Fasher, which was taken over by the militia Rapid Support Forces recently.
Accounts suggest multiple executions and human rights violations as militia members entered the city following an extended blockade marked by famine and intense shelling.
The flow of those running from the violence towards the town of Tawila, approximately 80km (50 miles) west of el-Fasher, had increased in the recent days, as stated by UNHCR spokesperson.
Survivors were narrating terrible tales of abuses, such as rape, and the organization was finding it difficult to find adequate housing and food for them.
Each child was experiencing nutritional deficiencies, she noted.
It is estimated that more than 150,000 people are still trapped in el-Fasher, which had been the military's remaining stronghold in the western region of Darfur.
The Rapid Support Forces has rejected extensive allegations that the executions in el-Fasher are ethnically motivated and mirror a practice of the Arab paramilitaries focusing on non-Arab populations.
However the RSF has detained one of its fighters, Abu Lulu, who has been accused of extrajudicial killings.
The force released video depicting the militiaman's detention subsequent to confirmation that he was involved in the killing of several non-combatants near el-Fasher.
Video sharing service has verified that it has removed the account linked to Lulu. It is not clear whether he had controlled the profile in his identity.
Sudan was plunged into 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 ethnic cleansing in the Darfur area.
More than 150,000 people have lost their lives in the war around the country, and roughly 12 million have fled their residences in what the United Nations has described as the most extensive humanitarian crisis.
The seizure of el-Fasher reinforces the geographic split in the country, with the RSF now in control of Sudan's west and significant areas of adjacent Kordofan to the southern area, and the military occupying the capital, Khartoum, central and eastern areas along the coastal region.
The competing factions had been collaborators - taking over together in a coup in 2021 - but split over an internationally backed plan to transition to civilian rule.
