More than 60,000 Run from Sudanese City In the wake of Capture by Rapid Support Forces Paramilitary Group, UN Reports
According to the UNHCR, over 60,000 people have left the city in Sudan of el-Fasher, which was captured by the militia Rapid Support Forces during the weekend.
Accounts suggest multiple executions and crimes against humanity as paramilitary forces entered the city following an extended blockade characterized by starvation and intense shelling.
The movement of those fleeing the conflict towards the community of Tawila, about 80km (50 miles) west of el-Fasher, had increased in the last several days, per United Nations refugee agency representative.
They were narrating shocking tales of violence, such as rape, and the agency was struggling to find enough shelter and supplies for them.
Each child was suffering from nutritional deficiencies, she added.
Calculations indicate that more than 150,000 residents are presently trapped in el-Fasher, which had been the military's last fortress in the western part of Darfur.
The RSF has rejected widespread accusations that the executions in el-Fasher are driven by ethnicity and mirror a practice of the Arab fighters attacking non-Arab communities.
Yet the RSF has detained one of its militiamen, Abu Lulu, who has been implicated in summary executions.
The force shared footage revealing the member's arrest following confirmation that he was responsible for the death of several unarmed men near el-Fasher.
Social media platform has acknowledged that it has banned the account connected to Lulu. The status remains unclear whether he had managed the account in his name.
Sudan was plunged into a domestic fighting in April 2023 after a brutal power struggle broke out between its military and the RSF.
The conflict has caused a starvation emergency and allegations of genocide in the western Darfur region.
More than 150,000 individuals have been killed in the conflict around the country, and approximately 12 million have abandoned their homes in what the United Nations has termed the most extensive humanitarian crisis.
The capture of el-Fasher strengthens the territorial division in the country, with the Rapid Support Forces now in dominance of Sudan's west and a large portion of bordering Kordofan to the southern area, and the army controlling the main city, Khartoum, central and eastern regions along the coastal region.
The competing factions had been collaborators - coming to power together in a seizure of power in 2021 - but fell out over an globally supported initiative to advance to democratic governance.
