🔗 Share this article Over 60,000 Flee Sudanese City After Capture by RSF Militia, UN Says Numerous are attempting to get to the town of Tawila but face intimidation, extortion and abuse from militiamen during their journey According to the UNHCR, more than 60,000 civilians have escaped the Sudanese city of el-Fasher, which was taken over by the paramilitary RSF over the weekend. Accounts suggest mass executions and atrocities as RSF fighters entered the city after an 18-month siege featuring famine and intense shelling. The flow of those escaping the violence towards the town of Tawila, roughly 80km (50 miles) to the west of el-Fasher, had increased in the past few days, according to United Nations refugee agency spokesperson. Survivors were describing terrible accounts of atrocities, such as rape, and the organization was struggling to locate adequate housing and supplies for them. All children was experiencing undernourishment, she added. It is estimated that over 150,000 residents are presently trapped in el-Fasher, which had been the army's last stronghold in the western part of Darfur. The RSF has rejected extensive claims that the deaths in el-Fasher are ethnically motivated and mirror a pattern of the Arab fighters attacking non-Arab communities. Yet the RSF has arrested one of its members, Abu Lulu, who has been implicated in extrajudicial killings. The organization released video showing the member's arrest following identification that he was responsible for the killing of multiple unarmed men in the vicinity of el-Fasher. Digital platform has confirmed that it has banned the account linked to Lulu. Uncertainty exists whether he had managed the profile in his name. Sudan was plunged into a domestic fighting in April 2023 when a intense contest for control erupted between its army and the Rapid Support Forces. The conflict has caused a food crisis and allegations of mass killing in the Darfur area. Over 150,000 people have been killed in the fighting throughout the country, and roughly 12 million have fled their homes in what the UN has described as the biggest global humanitarian crisis. The seizure of el-Fasher strengthens the regional separation in the country, with the Rapid Support Forces now in dominance of Sudan's west and much of adjacent Kordofan to the southern area, and the military occupying the capital, Khartoum, the center and east along the Red Sea. The two warring rivals had been collaborators - coming to power together in a coup in 2021 - but disagreed over an foreign-endorsed plan to move towards civilian rule.