More than 60,000 Flee Sudan's City After Takeover by Rapid Support Forces Paramilitary Group, United Nations States

Refugees fleeing conflict in the region
Numerous are trying to get to the settlement of Tawila but encounter harassment, demands for money and abuse from fighters along the way

According to the UNHCR, over 60,000 people have escaped the city in Sudan of el-Fasher, which was seized by the paramilitary RSF recently.

Accounts suggest summary killings and atrocities as RSF fighters stormed the city following an year-and-a-half blockade characterized by food shortages and heavy bombardment.

The movement of those running from the fighting towards the town of Tawila, about 80km (50 miles) west of el-Fasher, had grown in the last several days, according to UNHCR spokesperson.

Survivors were narrating terrible stories of atrocities, such as sexual violence, and the organization was struggling to secure sufficient housing and nourishment for them.

Each child was experiencing nutritional deficiencies, she added.

Estimates suggest that in excess of 150,000 people are presently unable to leave in el-Fasher, which had been the military's last fortress in the western region of Darfur.

The RSF has disputed extensive accusations that the deaths in el-Fasher are ethnically motivated and mirror a practice of the Arab militia groups attacking non-Arab populations.

Nevertheless the paramilitary group has arrested one of its fighters, Abu Lulu, who has been charged with extrajudicial killings.

The group shared footage revealing the fighter's arrest following confirmation that he was involved in the execution of numerous unarmed men near el-Fasher.

Video sharing service has confirmed that it has removed the profile connected to Lulu. The status remains unclear whether he had controlled the account in his name.

Sudan was thrown into a domestic fighting in April 2023 following a brutal struggle for power broke out between its army and the Rapid Support Forces.

It has caused a starvation emergency and allegations of genocide in the Darfur area.

In excess of 150,000 people have been killed in the war across the country, and about 12 million have fled their dwellings in what the United Nations has termed the world's largest humanitarian crisis.

The seizure of el-Fasher reinforces the geographic split in the country, with the Rapid Support Forces now in dominance of Sudan's west and a large portion of neighbouring Kordofan to the southern area, and the army occupying the capital, Khartoum, central and eastern areas along the coastal region.

The opposing sides had been collaborators - coming to power together in a seizure of power in 2021 - but fell out over an globally supported plan to transition to civilian rule.

Francis Jordan
Francis Jordan

A historian specializing in European nobility, with a passion for uncovering untold stories of royal dynasties and their influence on contemporary society.