🔗 Share this article

According to the UN refugee agency, over 60,000 people have fled the city in Sudan of el-Fasher, which was taken over by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces recently.

There have been summary killings and human rights violations as militia members entered the city after an 18-month encirclement featuring starvation and sustained attacks.

The flow of those escaping the violence towards the community of Tawila, approximately 80km (50 miles) west of el-Fasher, had accelerated in the recent days, according to United Nations refugee agency spokesperson.

Survivors were telling shocking accounts of atrocities, including rape, and the agency was finding it difficult to find sufficient housing and food for them.

Each child was experiencing malnutrition, she added.

Estimates suggest that in excess of 150,000 residents are currently trapped in el-Fasher, which had been the military's last stronghold in the western part of Darfur.

The Rapid Support Forces has disputed broad accusations that the deaths in el-Fasher are ethnically motivated and mirror a pattern of the Arab militia groups targeting ethnic minorities.

Nevertheless the paramilitary group has custodied one of its militiamen, Abu Lulu, who has been implicated in on-the-spot executions.

The force distributed video showing the member's detention subsequent to verification that he was involved in the death of several civilians near el-Fasher.

Social media platform has verified that it has banned the channel associated with Lulu. It is not clear whether he had managed the account in his name.

Sudan was plunged into a internal conflict in April 2023 after a brutal power struggle erupted between its army and the Rapid Support Forces.

It has resulted in a food crisis and allegations of ethnic cleansing in the Darfur area.

Over 150,000 individuals have died in the fighting across the country, and approximately 12 million have left their homes in what the United Nations has called the world's largest humanitarian emergency.

The takeover of el-Fasher strengthens the geographic split in the country, with the Rapid Support Forces now in control of western Sudan and significant areas of neighbouring Kordofan to the southern area, and the military occupying the capital, Khartoum, the center and east along the Red Sea.

The two warring rivals had been allies - taking over together in a coup in 2021 - but fell out over an globally supported initiative to transition to democratic governance.