In excess of 60,000 Flee Sudanese City After Capture by RSF Paramilitary Group, UN Says
Per the United Nations refugee organization, over 60,000 individuals have fled the Sudanese city of el-Fasher, which was captured by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces over the weekend.
There have been summary killings and human rights violations as militia members entered the city after an extended siege marked by famine and heavy bombardment.
The flow of those escaping the violence towards the town of Tawila, roughly 80km (50 miles) west of el-Fasher, had grown in the last several days, according to UNHCR spokesperson.
They were narrating shocking tales of abuses, including rape, and the humanitarian group was having trouble to secure enough accommodation and nourishment for them.
Each child was experiencing undernourishment, she commented.
Estimates suggest that in excess of 150,000 residents are presently unable to leave in el-Fasher, which had been the military's remaining bastion in the western region of Darfur.
The RSF has disputed widespread accusations that the killings in el-Fasher are ethnically motivated and mirror a pattern of the Arab fighters targeting ethnic minorities.
Nevertheless the RSF has custodied one of its members, Abu Lulu, who has been accused of extrajudicial killings.
The force distributed video showing the militiaman's arrest after confirmation that he was responsible for the death of numerous non-combatants in the vicinity of el-Fasher.
Social media platform has acknowledged that it has suspended the account connected to Lulu. It is not clear whether he had controlled the profile in his name.
Sudan was entered a internal conflict in April 2023 after a vicious contest for control erupted between its military and the Rapid Support Forces.
The conflict has led to a starvation emergency and claims of genocide in the Darfur area.
More than 150,000 persons have lost their lives in the war across the country, and roughly 12 million have fled their homes in what the United Nations has termed the world's largest humanitarian emergency.
The seizure of el-Fasher reinforces the geographic split in the country, with the RSF now in control of Sudan's west and a large portion of neighbouring Kordofan to the south, and the army controlling the main city, Khartoum, the center and east along the coastal region.
The opposing sides had been collaborators - gaining control together in a takeover in 2021 - but split over an globally supported plan to advance to civilian leadership.
