More than 60,000 Escape Sudanese City After Capture by Rapid Support Forces Paramilitary Group, United Nations Says
As stated by the United Nations refugee organization, over 60,000 people have escaped the city in Sudan of el-Fasher, which was seized by the militia Rapid Support Forces recently.
Reports indicate summary killings and atrocities as militia members entered the city following an 18-month siege featuring food shortages and sustained attacks.
The exodus of those running from the violence towards the community of Tawila, about 80km (50 miles) to the west of el-Fasher, had increased in the past few days, according to United Nations refugee agency representative.
Survivors were describing horrendous accounts of atrocities, such as sexual violence, and the agency was finding it difficult to secure enough housing and food for them.
Each child was experiencing malnutrition, she added.
Estimates suggest that more than 150,000 residents are presently stranded in el-Fasher, which had been the military's remaining bastion in the western region of Darfur.
The Rapid Support Forces has disputed broad claims that the killings in el-Fasher are ethnically motivated and mirror a trend of the Arab paramilitaries targeting non-Arab communities.
Yet the RSF has detained one of its members, Abu Lulu, who has been implicated in on-the-spot executions.
The force distributed footage showing the fighter's apprehension after confirmation that he was behind the killing of several unarmed men close to el-Fasher.
Video sharing service has confirmed that it has banned the account connected to Lulu. It is not clear whether he had operated the profile in his identity.
Sudan was thrown into a civil war in April 2023 when a intense struggle for power began between its military and the RSF.
It has resulted in a food crisis and accusations of ethnic cleansing in the western Sudan.
More than 150,000 people have lost their lives in the war around the country, and roughly 12 million have fled their residences in what the UN has described as the most extensive humanitarian emergency.
The seizure of el-Fasher solidifies the geographic split in the country, with the RSF now in dominance of western Sudan and significant areas of adjacent Kordofan to the southern area, and the military occupying 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 fell out over an globally supported plan to move towards democratic governance.
