In excess of 60,000 Flee Sudanese City In the wake of Capture by Rapid Support Forces Militia, UN Says
Per the UN refugee agency, more than 60,000 civilians have escaped the city in Sudan of el-Fasher, which was seized by the paramilitary RSF recently.
Accounts suggest summary killings and atrocities as paramilitary forces stormed the city following an year-and-a-half encirclement characterized by starvation and intense shelling.
The exodus of those escaping the violence towards the town of Tawila, about 80km (50 miles) west of el-Fasher, had grown in the recent days, per United Nations refugee agency spokesperson.
Survivors were narrating terrible stories of abuses, including rape, and the humanitarian group was finding it difficult to find adequate shelter and supplies for them.
Each child was experiencing malnutrition, she added.
Estimates suggest that more than 150,000 people 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 extensive allegations that the killings in el-Fasher are based on ethnic factors and mirror a practice of the Arab paramilitaries targeting non-Arab populations.
Nevertheless the paramilitary group has detained one of its militiamen, Abu Lulu, who has been charged with on-the-spot executions.
The force distributed footage showing the member's arrest subsequent to confirmation that he was involved in the death of multiple civilians in the vicinity of el-Fasher.
Digital platform has verified that it has removed the channel connected to Lulu. Uncertainty exists whether he had managed the profile in his identity.
Sudan was entered a internal conflict in April 2023 following a vicious struggle for power broke out between its army and the RSF.
It has resulted in a starvation emergency and accusations of mass killing in the Darfur area.
In excess of 150,000 people have died in the war throughout the country, and about 12 million have abandoned their residences in what the United Nations has termed the world's largest humanitarian emergency.
The capture of el-Fasher solidifies the geographic split in the country, with the Rapid Support Forces now in dominance of Sudan's west and much of adjacent Kordofan to the southern area, and the military controlling the main city, Khartoum, central and eastern areas along the Red Sea.
The two warring rivals had been collaborators - taking over together in a coup in 2021 - but split over an foreign-endorsed plan to advance to democratic governance.
