More than 60,000 Escape Sudanese City Following Seizure by Rapid Support Forces Paramilitary Group, United Nations Says
Per the UNHCR, more than 60,000 people have fled the city in Sudan of el-Fasher, which was seized by the paramilitary RSF during the weekend.
Reports indicate mass executions and human rights violations as paramilitary forces stormed the city after an 18-month siege characterized by famine and intense shelling.
The flow of those fleeing the fighting towards the community of Tawila, approximately 80km (50 miles) west of el-Fasher, had accelerated in the recent days, as stated by UNHCR representative.
Survivors were narrating horrendous accounts of atrocities, featuring rape, and the organization was finding it difficult to locate enough shelter and food for them.
All children was affected by nutritional deficiencies, she noted.
It is estimated that over 150,000 people are presently unable to leave in el-Fasher, which had been the military's last fortress in the western region of Darfur.
The RSF has denied widespread accusations that the killings in el-Fasher are based on ethnic factors and follow a practice of the Arab fighters attacking non-Arab populations.
However the RSF has custodied one of its members, Abu Lulu, who has been implicated in extrajudicial killings.
The force distributed video revealing the fighter's detention subsequent to verification that he was responsible for the killing of several unarmed men in the vicinity of el-Fasher.
Social media platform has acknowledged that it has suspended the channel connected to Lulu. The status remains unclear whether he had controlled the profile in his identity.
Sudan was plunged into a domestic fighting in April 2023 following a vicious contest for control erupted between its military and the Rapid Support Forces.
The conflict has led to a starvation emergency and accusations of mass killing in the western Darfur region.
Over 150,000 persons have died in the war throughout the country, and roughly 12 million have fled their residences in what the UN has described as the world's largest humanitarian emergency.
The capture of el-Fasher strengthens the geographic split in the country, with the RSF now in dominance of western Sudan and significant areas of adjacent Kordofan to the south, and the military controlling the main city, Khartoum, the center and east along the coastal region.
The competing factions had been collaborators - taking over together in a takeover in 2021 - but disagreed over an globally supported plan to advance to democratic governance.