🔗 Share this article

As stated by the UN refugee agency, over 60,000 individuals have left the city in Sudan of el-Fasher, which was captured by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces over the weekend.

Accounts suggest multiple executions and human rights violations as paramilitary forces took control of the city after an extended encirclement featuring food shortages and heavy bombardment.

The exodus of those escaping the fighting towards the community of Tawila, about 80km (50 miles) west of el-Fasher, had increased in the last several days, as stated by United Nations refugee agency representative.

Refugees were describing shocking accounts of violence, such as sexual violence, and the organization was struggling to find enough shelter and food for them.

All children was affected by nutritional deficiencies, she added.

Estimates suggest that in excess of 150,000 people are still 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 extensive claims that the deaths in el-Fasher are driven by ethnicity and resemble a trend of the Arab militia groups focusing on non-Arab communities.

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

The organization released footage revealing the militiaman's arrest subsequent to identification that he was involved in the execution of multiple civilians in the vicinity of el-Fasher.

Social media platform has acknowledged that it has banned the channel connected to Lulu. The status remains unclear whether he had operated the profile in his name.

Sudan was thrown into a civil war in April 2023 following a intense struggle for power began between its military and the Rapid Support Forces.

It has caused a famine and allegations of genocide in the western Darfur region.

Over 150,000 individuals have lost their lives in the war across the country, and approximately 12 million have abandoned their dwellings in what the United Nations has described as the world's largest humanitarian disaster.

The seizure of el-Fasher reinforces the geographic split in the country, with the Rapid Support Forces now in control of Sudan's west and much of adjacent Kordofan to the southern area, and the military controlling the main city, Khartoum, central and eastern regions along the Red Sea.

The two warring rivals had been collaborators - gaining control together in a seizure of power in 2021 - but disagreed over an foreign-endorsed plan to move towards democratic governance.