Fears grow for thousands trapped in Sudan’s el-Fasher as few reach safety

Cairo: Only a few thousand Sudanese have reached the nearest camp for displaced in the days since Sudan’s paramilitary forces seized el-Fasher city, raising fears over tens of thousands who might still be trapped as survivors described killings and other atrocities, an aid group said Sunday.

The Rapid Support Forces took control of the western Darfur region last week, after ousting the rival Sudanese army from the city that was besieged for 18 months.

Since then, reports and videos have circulated of RSF atrocities against civilians including beatings, killings and sexual

assaults, according to testimonies by civilians and aid workers. The dead included at least 460 killed in the hospital, according to the World Health Organisation.

Tens of thousands are believed to have fled el-Fasher, according to the UN migration agency.

However, less than 6,000 have made it to the nearest camp in Tawila, 65 kilometres away, said Shashwat Saraf, Sudan director for the Norwegian Refugee Council, which runs the camp.

Almost 1,000 people arrived in the last three days, he said.

“The numbers are still very few. We are not seeing the hundreds of thousands that we were expecting. If people are still in el-Fasher, it will be very difficult for them to survive,” he told The Associated Press by phone from Tawila.

The fall of el-Fasher marked a new turning point in the war between the RSF and Sudan’s armed forces, which erupted

in April 2023. More than 40,000 people have been killed, according to UN figures, but aid groups say the true number could be many times higher.

The war has also displaced more than 14 million people and unleashed outbreaks of diseases, killing thousands.

“We feel that a lot of people are stuck in locations from where it is

not safe for them to move, and they need to pay to move and they don’t have money to pay,” Saraf said.

Survivors who made the journey on foot have shared harrowing details of having to dodge gunmen shooting at them as they fled.

“People arriving in the camp are mostly disoriented and dehydrated with bruises all over. Sometimes they do not even remember their names, they have to be taken to the hospital and have IV fluids,” Saraf said.

Saraf also said that around 170 unaccompanied children, some of whom as young as 3 years old, trekked to Tawila without knowing where their family members were. They came along with older children or adults who were not their relatives.