More than 60,000 Run from Sudan's City Following Capture by RSF Militia, United Nations Reports
According to the UN refugee agency, more than 60,000 individuals have escaped the Sudanese city of el-Fasher, which was seized by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces recently.
Reports indicate mass executions and atrocities as militia members entered the city following an 18-month encirclement marked by starvation and sustained attacks.
The flow of those escaping the violence towards the town of Tawila, roughly 80km (50 miles) west of el-Fasher, had increased in the last several days, per UNHCR representative.
Refugees were narrating terrible accounts of violence, including rape, and the organization was having trouble to secure enough accommodation and food for them.
Every child was suffering from malnutrition, she commented.
Estimates suggest that in excess of 150,000 people are currently unable to leave in el-Fasher, which had been the military's final fortress in the western part of Darfur.
The RSF has rejected extensive claims that the executions in el-Fasher are ethnically motivated and follow a practice of the Arab militia groups targeting non-Arab populations.
Nevertheless the paramilitary group has detained one of its militiamen, Abu Lulu, who has been implicated in summary executions.
The organization distributed video showing the militiaman's arrest subsequent to identification that he was behind the execution of several unarmed men near el-Fasher.
Video sharing service has verified that it has suspended the profile associated with Lulu. The status remains unclear whether he had operated the profile in his name.
Sudan was entered a domestic fighting in April 2023 after a vicious struggle for power broke out between its military and the Rapid Support Forces.
The conflict has resulted in a food crisis and accusations of ethnic cleansing in the western Sudan.
In excess of 150,000 people have been killed in the fighting around the country, and about 12 million have abandoned their residences in what the UN has described as the biggest global humanitarian crisis.
The takeover of el-Fasher strengthens the territorial division in the country, with the RSF now in command of the western region and significant areas of adjacent Kordofan to the southern area, and the army holding the main city, Khartoum, central and eastern areas along the coastal region.
The two warring rivals had been collaborators - coming to power together in a seizure of power in 2021 - but disagreed over an internationally backed initiative to move towards civilian rule.