In excess of 60,000 Flee Sudan's City Following Capture by RSF Paramilitary Group, UN States

Per the UN refugee agency, more than 60,000 civilians have fled the city in Sudan of el-Fasher, which was taken over by the paramilitary RSF during the weekend.

Reports indicate mass executions and human rights violations as militia members took control of the city after an 18-month encirclement characterized by food shortages and heavy bombardment.

The movement of those escaping the fighting towards the community of Tawila, about 80km (50 miles) west of el-Fasher, had grown in the past few days, per UNHCR representative.

Refugees were describing terrible tales of abuses, including rape, and the organization was having trouble to find enough housing and supplies for them.

Each child was suffering from malnutrition, she commented.

Calculations indicate that over 150,000 individuals are still trapped in el-Fasher, which had been the military's last fortress in the western part of Darfur.

The RSF has denied broad allegations that the killings in el-Fasher are ethnically motivated and resemble a pattern of the Arab militia groups focusing on ethnic minorities.

Nevertheless the RSF has arrested one of its members, Abu Lulu, who has been charged with extrajudicial killings.

The force shared recordings showing the member's detention subsequent to identification that he was responsible for the death of multiple non-combatants in the vicinity of el-Fasher.

Digital platform has acknowledged that it has removed the profile connected to Lulu. The status remains unclear whether he had managed the account in his identity.

Sudan was plunged into a civil war in April 2023 following a vicious power struggle broke out between its military and the RSF.

This has caused a starvation emergency and accusations of mass killing in the western Darfur region.

Over 150,000 people have been killed in the conflict throughout the country, and about 12 million have fled their residences in what the United Nations has termed the biggest global humanitarian emergency.

The capture of el-Fasher reinforces the regional separation in the country, with the RSF now in dominance of western Sudan and significant areas of adjacent Kordofan to the southern area, and the military holding the capital, Khartoum, the center and east along the Red Sea.

The competing factions had been partners - taking over together in a seizure of power in 2021 - but split over an internationally backed proposal to advance to democratic governance.