🔗 Share this article Over 60,000 Run from Sudan's City Following Takeover by Rapid Support Forces Militia, UN States Many are attempting to get to the town of Tawila but encounter harassment, extortion and abuse from fighters along the way Per the UNHCR, more than 60,000 individuals have fled the city in Sudan of el-Fasher, which was taken over by the paramilitary RSF during the weekend. Accounts suggest multiple executions and human rights violations as militia members entered the city following an 18-month siege marked by starvation and intense shelling. The exodus of those running from the fighting towards the community of Tawila, roughly 80km (50 miles) to the west of el-Fasher, had increased in the recent days, according to UNHCR spokesperson. They were narrating terrible accounts of violence, featuring rape, and the organization was having trouble to locate adequate accommodation and food for them. Every child was experiencing malnutrition, she commented. Estimates suggest that more than 150,000 people are still trapped in el-Fasher, which had been the military's final fortress in the western part of Darfur. The Rapid Support Forces has rejected broad allegations that the deaths in el-Fasher are driven by ethnicity and resemble a pattern of the Arab militia groups attacking non-Arab communities. Yet the RSF has arrested one of its members, Abu Lulu, who has been implicated in summary executions. The organization released video revealing the member's arrest subsequent to confirmation that he was behind the killing of numerous civilians in the vicinity of el-Fasher. Social media platform has acknowledged that it has removed the profile linked to Lulu. Uncertainty exists whether he had operated the profile in his name. Sudan was entered a civil war in April 2023 when a brutal power struggle broke out between its army and the Rapid Support Forces. It has led to a starvation emergency and allegations of mass killing in the Darfur area. More than 150,000 people have died in the fighting throughout the country, and roughly 12 million have abandoned their homes in what the United Nations has described as the most extensive humanitarian crisis. The capture of el-Fasher strengthens the territorial division in the country, with the RSF now in command of Sudan's west and significant areas of adjacent Kordofan to the south, and the army controlling the capital, Khartoum, central and eastern regions along the coastal region. The competing factions had been partners - gaining control together in a takeover in 2021 - but split over an foreign-endorsed proposal to move towards civilian rule.