Over 60,000 Flee Sudan's City After Capture by RSF Militia, UN Says
Per the UN refugee agency, more than 60,000 civilians have fled the city in Sudan of el-Fasher, which was seized by the paramilitary RSF during the weekend.
Reports indicate mass executions and atrocities as paramilitary forces took control of the city after an year-and-a-half encirclement marked by food shortages and heavy bombardment.
The movement of those escaping the fighting towards the town of Tawila, about 80km (50 miles) west of el-Fasher, had increased in the last several days, according to UNHCR representative.
Survivors were narrating terrible accounts of atrocities, such as sexual violence, and the humanitarian group was having trouble to find sufficient accommodation and nourishment for them.
Every child was affected by undernourishment, she added.
Calculations indicate that in excess of 150,000 individuals are currently unable to leave in el-Fasher, which had been the military's final stronghold in the western part of Darfur.
The RSF has rejected widespread accusations that the killings in el-Fasher are ethnically motivated and follow a pattern of the Arab paramilitaries attacking non-Arab communities.
Nevertheless the RSF has custodied one of its members, Abu Lulu, who has been accused of extrajudicial killings.
The organization distributed recordings depicting the fighter's apprehension following verification that he was involved in the death of numerous non-combatants close to el-Fasher.
Video sharing service has confirmed that it has suspended the channel linked to Lulu. Uncertainty exists whether he had operated the account in his name.
Sudan was thrown into a internal conflict in April 2023 when a intense contest for control erupted between its army and the Rapid Support Forces.
It has resulted in a food crisis and claims of ethnic cleansing in the western Sudan.
More than 150,000 people have been killed in the fighting across the country, and roughly 12 million have left their residences in what the UN has called the biggest global humanitarian disaster.
The seizure of el-Fasher reinforces the geographic split in the country, with the Rapid Support Forces now in command of western Sudan and much of adjacent Kordofan to the south, and the military controlling the main city, Khartoum, the center and east along the coastal region.
The opposing sides had been collaborators - coming to power together in a takeover in 2021 - but disagreed over an internationally backed plan to advance to democratic governance.
