🔗 Share this article

According to the United Nations refugee organization, more than 60,000 civilians have escaped the Sudanese city of el-Fasher, which was seized by the paramilitary RSF during the weekend.

Reports indicate summary killings and human rights violations as militia members entered the city following an 18-month encirclement characterized by food shortages and intense shelling.

The exodus of those escaping the fighting towards the community of Tawila, approximately 80km (50 miles) to the west of el-Fasher, had increased in the last several days, per UNHCR representative.

They were telling terrible accounts of violence, featuring sexual violence, and the agency was finding it difficult to find enough housing and food for them.

Every child was experiencing malnutrition, she noted.

Calculations indicate that in excess of 150,000 individuals are presently unable to leave in el-Fasher, which had been the military's final fortress in the western region of Darfur.

The Rapid Support Forces has disputed broad accusations that the deaths in el-Fasher are driven by ethnicity and follow a pattern of the Arab paramilitaries attacking non-Arab populations.

Nevertheless the paramilitary group has custodied one of its members, Abu Lulu, who has been accused of on-the-spot executions.

The organization distributed footage showing the member's apprehension after verification that he was involved in the killing of numerous non-combatants close to el-Fasher.

Social media platform has acknowledged that it has suspended the account connected to Lulu. The status remains unclear whether he had controlled the profile in his name.

Sudan was thrown into a domestic fighting in April 2023 when a intense contest for control began between its army and the RSF.

The conflict has resulted in a food crisis and accusations of genocide in the Darfur area.

Over 150,000 individuals have died in the war around the country, and approximately 12 million have fled their residences in what the United Nations has termed the most extensive humanitarian emergency.

The takeover of el-Fasher solidifies the geographic split in the country, with the RSF now in command of the western region and significant areas of adjacent Kordofan to the south, and the army controlling the capital, Khartoum, central and eastern areas along the Red Sea.

The competing factions had been collaborators - gaining control together in a seizure of power in 2021 - but fell out over an globally supported initiative to advance to civilian rule.