Over 60,000 Run from Sudan's City After Takeover by Rapid Support Forces Militia, UN Says

Displaced people escaping conflict in Sudan
Numerous seek to get to the town of Tawila but experience intimidation, demands for money and mistreatment from fighters along the way

As stated by the UN refugee agency, in excess of 60,000 civilians have left the city in Sudan of el-Fasher, which was captured by the militia RSF recently.

There have been mass executions and atrocities as RSF fighters took control of the city following an extended encirclement marked by famine and intense shelling.

The flow of those escaping the fighting towards the community of Tawila, about 80km (50 miles) west of el-Fasher, had grown in the past few days, as stated by UNHCR representative.

They were describing horrendous stories of violence, including rape, and the organization was struggling to find sufficient shelter and food for them.

All children was suffering from malnutrition, she added.

Calculations indicate that in excess of 150,000 individuals are still trapped in el-Fasher, which had been the army's remaining bastion in the western region of Darfur.

The Rapid Support Forces has rejected extensive allegations that the deaths in el-Fasher are ethnically motivated and mirror a practice of the Arab fighters targeting ethnic minorities.

However the RSF has detained one of its members, Abu Lulu, who has been implicated in extrajudicial killings.

The organization distributed footage depicting the militiaman's arrest following confirmation that he was involved in the execution of numerous unarmed men close to el-Fasher.

Social media platform has acknowledged that it has removed the account linked to Lulu. It is not clear whether he had operated the profile in his identity.

Sudan was plunged into a domestic fighting in April 2023 when a brutal struggle for power began between its military and the RSF.

The conflict has caused a food crisis and allegations of ethnic cleansing in the Darfur area.

More than 150,000 people have been killed in the war across the country, and roughly 12 million have fled their dwellings in what the UN has described as the biggest global humanitarian emergency.

The seizure of el-Fasher reinforces the territorial division in the country, with the Rapid Support Forces now in command of Sudan's west and significant areas of bordering Kordofan to the southern area, and the military controlling the capital, Khartoum, central and eastern areas along the Red Sea.

The opposing sides had been collaborators - gaining control together in a coup in 2021 - but split over an internationally backed plan to move towards civilian rule.

Kristen Nelson
Kristen Nelson

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