More than 60,000 Flee Sudan's City In the wake of Takeover by RSF Militia, UN Says

As stated by the UNHCR, more than 60,000 civilians have fled the Sudanese city of el-Fasher, which was taken over by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces recently.

Accounts suggest mass executions and atrocities as RSF fighters stormed the city following an 18-month encirclement marked by starvation and heavy bombardment.

The flow of those running from the conflict towards the community of Tawila, about 80km (50 miles) west of el-Fasher, had grown in the past few days, according to UNHCR representative.

They were describing shocking accounts of violence, featuring sexual violence, and the organization was having trouble to locate enough housing and food for them.

All children was affected by nutritional deficiencies, she added.

Estimates suggest that in excess of 150,000 individuals are currently stranded in el-Fasher, which had been the army's remaining stronghold in the western part of Darfur.

The RSF has rejected extensive accusations that the executions in el-Fasher are ethnically motivated and mirror a practice of the Arab paramilitaries targeting ethnic minorities.

Nevertheless the paramilitary group has detained one of its members, Abu Lulu, who has been implicated in extrajudicial killings.

The group distributed footage depicting the fighter's arrest subsequent to identification that he was responsible for the death of several unarmed men in the vicinity of el-Fasher.

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

Sudan was plunged into a civil war in April 2023 after a vicious struggle for power erupted between its army and the Rapid Support Forces.

It has resulted in a famine and claims of mass killing in the western Sudan.

Over 150,000 persons have lost their lives in the fighting throughout the country, and about 12 million have abandoned their dwellings in what the UN has described as the biggest global humanitarian disaster.

The takeover of el-Fasher solidifies the regional separation 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, the center and east along the coastal region.

The opposing sides had been collaborators - taking over together in a coup in 2021 - but disagreed over an internationally backed plan to move towards civilian leadership.