Over 60,000 Run from Sudanese City After Capture by Rapid Support Forces Paramilitary Group, UN Reports

According to the UN refugee agency, over 60,000 individuals have escaped the city in Sudan of el-Fasher, which was taken over by the militia RSF over the weekend.

Reports indicate multiple executions and human rights violations as militia members took control of the city following an extended siege characterized by food shortages and sustained attacks.

The movement of those escaping the conflict towards the community of Tawila, about 80km (50 miles) to the west of el-Fasher, had grown in the last several days, as stated by United Nations refugee agency spokesperson.

Refugees were narrating shocking stories of abuses, such as sexual violence, and the organization was finding it difficult to find sufficient shelter and food for them.

Each child was suffering from malnutrition, she noted.

Calculations indicate that more than 150,000 people are presently stranded in el-Fasher, which had been the army's remaining fortress in the western part of Darfur.

The Rapid Support Forces has denied extensive claims that the executions in el-Fasher are driven by ethnicity and resemble a pattern of the Arab fighters targeting non-Arab communities.

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

The group shared footage revealing the member's detention subsequent to identification that he was behind the execution of numerous unarmed men near el-Fasher.

Video sharing service has confirmed that it has banned the channel associated with Lulu. Uncertainty exists whether he had operated the profile in his identity.

Sudan was thrown into a internal conflict in April 2023 following a vicious power struggle broke out between its military and the RSF.

This has resulted in a starvation emergency and accusations of ethnic cleansing in the western Darfur region.

Over 150,000 individuals have been killed in the war around the country, and roughly 12 million have fled their dwellings in what the United Nations has described as the world's largest humanitarian disaster.

The capture of el-Fasher solidifies the regional separation in the country, with the RSF now in dominance of western Sudan and a large portion of neighbouring Kordofan to the south, and the army occupying the capital, Khartoum, central and eastern regions along the Red Sea.

The competing factions had been partners - taking over together in a coup in 2021 - but disagreed over an internationally backed plan to transition to civilian leadership.