š Share this article Over 60,000 Flee Sudan's City After Capture by Rapid Support Forces Paramilitary Group, UN States Many are trying to get to the town of Tawila but experience harassment, demands for money and mistreatment from armed men along the way According to the UN refugee agency, more than 60,000 people have left the city in Sudan of el-Fasher, which was taken over by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces recently. Reports indicate summary killings and atrocities as RSF fighters entered the city after an 18-month siege featuring famine and sustained attacks. The flow of those escaping the conflict towards the town of Tawila, roughly 80km (50 miles) to the west of el-Fasher, had accelerated in the last several days, as stated by UNHCR spokesperson. Refugees were telling shocking accounts of abuses, including rape, and the humanitarian group was having trouble to find enough housing and nourishment for them. Each child was suffering from undernourishment, she added. Estimates suggest that in excess of 150,000 residents are currently unable to leave in el-Fasher, which had been the military's final fortress in the western part of Darfur. The Rapid Support Forces has rejected widespread allegations that the deaths in el-Fasher are ethnically motivated and mirror a pattern of the Arab militia groups attacking ethnic minorities. Yet the paramilitary group has arrested one of its fighters, Abu Lulu, who has been implicated in summary executions. The force released video showing the member's arrest after identification that he was behind the killing of multiple civilians in the vicinity of el-Fasher. Social media platform has confirmed that it has banned the account associated with Lulu. The status remains unclear whether he had controlled the account in his name. Sudan was entered a civil war in April 2023 following a intense struggle for power broke out between its army and the Rapid Support Forces. It has resulted in a starvation emergency and claims of genocide in the western Darfur region. More than 150,000 individuals have lost their lives in the conflict throughout the country, and approximately 12 million have abandoned their dwellings in what the UN has termed the world's largest humanitarian emergency. The seizure of el-Fasher reinforces the geographic split in the country, with the Rapid Support Forces now in dominance of western Sudan and significant areas of adjacent Kordofan to the southern area, and the army controlling the capital, Khartoum, central and eastern areas along the Red Sea. The two warring rivals had been collaborators - coming to power together in a takeover in 2021 - but disagreed over an internationally backed proposal to advance to democratic governance.