According to the UNHCR, over 60,000 individuals have escaped the Sudanese city of el-Fasher, which was seized by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces recently.
Accounts suggest summary killings and human rights violations as paramilitary forces stormed the city following an year-and-a-half siege marked by famine and intense shelling.
The flow of those fleeing the fighting towards the community of Tawila, about 80km (50 miles) west of el-Fasher, had accelerated in the past few days, per UNHCR representative.
Survivors were narrating terrible tales of violence, such as sexual violence, and the agency was having trouble to locate adequate accommodation and nourishment for them.
All children was experiencing undernourishment, she noted.
Estimates suggest that in excess of 150,000 residents are currently unable to leave in el-Fasher, which had been the army's final stronghold in the western region of Darfur.
The RSF has rejected broad accusations that the executions in el-Fasher are ethnically motivated and follow a practice of the Arab fighters focusing on ethnic minorities.
Yet the paramilitary group has detained one of its militiamen, Abu Lulu, who has been charged with summary executions.
The organization distributed video showing the militiaman's apprehension subsequent to confirmation that he was responsible for the killing of numerous civilians near el-Fasher.
Social media platform has verified that it has suspended the channel associated with Lulu. Uncertainty exists whether he had operated the profile in his name.
Sudan was plunged into a internal conflict in April 2023 when a vicious struggle for power broke out between its military and the Rapid Support Forces.
This has caused a food crisis and claims of genocide in the western Sudan.
More than 150,000 individuals have lost their lives in the war around the country, and roughly 12 million have abandoned their dwellings in what the United Nations has termed the biggest global humanitarian emergency.
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 holding the main city, Khartoum, central and eastern regions along the Red Sea.
The opposing sides had been allies - gaining control together in a takeover in 2021 - but fell out over an foreign-endorsed initiative to transition to civilian leadership.
