More than 60,000 Escape Sudanese City In the wake of Takeover by RSF Paramilitary Group, United Nations Reports
According to the UN refugee agency, over 60,000 civilians have left the Sudanese city of el-Fasher, which was taken over by the militia RSF over the weekend.
Reports indicate multiple executions and crimes against humanity as paramilitary forces took control of the city following an year-and-a-half siege featuring famine and intense shelling.
The exodus of those running from the conflict towards the community of Tawila, roughly 80km (50 miles) to the west of el-Fasher, had increased in the last several days, per UNHCR spokesperson.
Refugees were narrating horrendous accounts of abuses, such as sexual violence, and the organization was struggling to locate adequate shelter and supplies for them.
Each child was suffering from malnutrition, she noted.
It is estimated that in excess of 150,000 individuals are presently stranded in el-Fasher, which had been the military's final stronghold in the western part of Darfur.
The Rapid Support Forces has denied extensive claims that the killings in el-Fasher are based on ethnic factors and follow a pattern of the Arab fighters attacking non-Arab communities.
Yet the RSF has detained one of its members, Abu Lulu, who has been implicated in on-the-spot executions.
The organization released video showing the member's arrest after verification that he was involved in the death of multiple civilians in the vicinity of el-Fasher.
Social media platform has confirmed that it has banned the profile linked to Lulu. The status remains unclear whether he had managed the profile in his name.
Sudan was plunged into a domestic fighting in April 2023 when a vicious contest for control erupted between its military and the Rapid Support Forces.
This has resulted in a food crisis and accusations of ethnic cleansing in the western Sudan.
More than 150,000 individuals have lost their lives in the conflict throughout the country, and roughly 12 million have abandoned their residences in what the United Nations has described as the most extensive humanitarian crisis.
The takeover of el-Fasher strengthens the geographic split in the country, with the Rapid Support Forces now in command of Sudan's west and a large portion of neighbouring Kordofan to the southern area, and the army holding the main city, Khartoum, central and eastern regions along the coastal region.
The competing factions had been collaborators - gaining control together in a coup in 2021 - but split over an internationally backed initiative to transition to democratic governance.