In excess of 60,000 Escape Sudan's City In the wake of Seizure by Rapid Support Forces Militia, UN Reports
According to the United Nations refugee organization, over 60,000 individuals have left the Sudanese city of el-Fasher, which was taken over by the militia Rapid Support Forces recently.
Reports indicate mass executions and human rights violations as RSF fighters entered the city following an year-and-a-half encirclement featuring famine and sustained attacks.
The movement of those running from the fighting towards the community of Tawila, approximately 80km (50 miles) to the west of el-Fasher, had accelerated in the last several days, per UNHCR spokesperson.
They were narrating horrendous stories of violence, featuring rape, and the agency was having trouble to find adequate housing and nourishment for them.
All children was suffering from nutritional deficiencies, she noted.
Calculations indicate that in excess of 150,000 people are still unable to leave in el-Fasher, which had been the military's remaining fortress in the western region of Darfur.
The RSF has disputed extensive allegations that the deaths in el-Fasher are driven by ethnicity and mirror a practice of the Arab paramilitaries attacking ethnic minorities.
However the paramilitary group has detained one of its members, Abu Lulu, who has been accused of on-the-spot executions.
The force released video revealing the member's detention after verification that he was behind the execution of numerous non-combatants in the vicinity of el-Fasher.
Video sharing service has confirmed that it has removed the profile connected to Lulu. The status remains unclear whether he had operated the account in his identity.
Sudan was thrown into a internal conflict in April 2023 after a brutal struggle for power broke out between its military and the RSF.
It has led to a famine and accusations of ethnic cleansing in the western Darfur region.
Over 150,000 persons have lost their lives in the fighting across the country, and about 12 million have abandoned their residences in what the United Nations has termed the biggest global humanitarian disaster.
The takeover of el-Fasher solidifies the territorial division in the country, with the Rapid Support Forces now in dominance of the western region and much of neighbouring Kordofan to the south, and the military holding the capital, Khartoum, the center and east along the coastal region.
The two warring rivals had been allies - taking over together in a takeover in 2021 - but split over an globally supported initiative to advance to civilian rule.