More than 60,000 Run from Sudanese City In the wake of Takeover by RSF Paramilitary Group, UN States
According to the UNHCR, over 60,000 individuals have left the Sudanese city of el-Fasher, which was seized by the militia RSF recently.
There have been summary killings and crimes against humanity as militia members entered the city after an year-and-a-half encirclement characterized by starvation and intense shelling.
The flow of those fleeing the conflict towards the town of Tawila, about 80km (50 miles) west of el-Fasher, had grown in the recent days, per UNHCR representative.
They were narrating terrible accounts of abuses, featuring rape, and the organization was struggling to locate sufficient housing and supplies for them.
Every child was suffering from nutritional deficiencies, she added.
Estimates suggest that more than 150,000 people are currently unable to leave in el-Fasher, which had been the army's final fortress in the western region of Darfur.
The RSF has disputed extensive allegations that the deaths in el-Fasher are based on ethnic factors and resemble a practice of the Arab paramilitaries focusing on ethnic minorities.
Yet the RSF has custodied one of its members, Abu Lulu, who has been implicated in on-the-spot executions.
The force distributed footage depicting the militiaman's apprehension subsequent to identification that he was involved in the death of numerous non-combatants close to el-Fasher.
Video sharing service has acknowledged that it has removed the account connected to Lulu. It is not clear whether he had operated the profile in his name.
Sudan was plunged into a domestic fighting in April 2023 following a brutal power struggle erupted between its army and the Rapid Support Forces.
This has caused a food crisis and accusations of genocide in the western Sudan.
More than 150,000 persons have died in the war across the country, and about 12 million have abandoned their homes in what the United Nations has called the most extensive humanitarian crisis.
The seizure of el-Fasher solidifies the geographic split in the country, with the RSF now in command of western Sudan and a large portion of adjacent Kordofan to the southern area, and the military holding the capital, Khartoum, the center and east along the Red Sea.
The competing factions had been collaborators - taking over together in a coup in 2021 - but split over an internationally backed proposal to advance to civilian leadership.
