In excess of 60,000 Run from Sudanese City In the wake of Capture by Rapid Support Forces Paramilitary Group, United Nations Reports
According to the UN refugee agency, more than 60,000 individuals have escaped the city in Sudan of el-Fasher, which was seized by the paramilitary RSF over the weekend.
Accounts suggest mass executions and atrocities as RSF fighters took control of the city after an 18-month siege marked by starvation and heavy bombardment.
The flow of those escaping the fighting towards the town of Tawila, about 80km (50 miles) west of el-Fasher, had increased in the recent days, per UNHCR spokesperson.
Refugees were describing shocking accounts of atrocities, such as sexual violence, and the humanitarian group was finding it difficult to locate adequate housing and supplies for them.
All children was experiencing nutritional deficiencies, she added.
Calculations indicate that in excess of 150,000 residents are still stranded in el-Fasher, which had been the army's final fortress in the western part of Darfur.
The Rapid Support Forces has disputed extensive accusations that the deaths in el-Fasher are ethnically motivated and resemble a practice of the Arab paramilitaries focusing on ethnic minorities.
Yet the paramilitary group has detained one of its fighters, Abu Lulu, who has been implicated in summary executions.
The group released video showing the fighter's arrest following confirmation that he was responsible for the execution of several unarmed men near el-Fasher.
Video sharing service has confirmed that it has suspended the account connected to Lulu. Uncertainty exists whether he had operated the account in his identity.
Sudan was entered a internal conflict in April 2023 when a intense power struggle erupted between its army and the RSF.
It has led to a starvation emergency and accusations of ethnic cleansing in the western Darfur region.
Over 150,000 people have died in the war throughout the country, and roughly 12 million have abandoned their residences in what the United Nations has described as the most extensive humanitarian emergency.
The seizure of el-Fasher strengthens the territorial division in the country, with the Rapid Support Forces now in dominance of the western region and a large portion of adjacent Kordofan to the south, and the military occupying the main city, Khartoum, the center and east along the Red Sea.
The opposing sides had been collaborators - taking over together in a coup in 2021 - but disagreed over an foreign-endorsed plan to transition to democratic governance.
