By Adel Abelrheem and Rania Abu Shamala
KHARTOUM, Sudan/ISTANBUL (AA) – More than 100,000 civilians have been displaced from El-Fasher in western Sudan since the city’s takeover by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) last month, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said Monday.
In a statement, the UN agency said 100,537 people have fled the city to 23 localities across nine of Sudan’s 18 states.
The IOM said that its field teams reported extreme insecurity along displacement routes, which could hinder the movement of civilians.
Earlier Monday, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said that more displaced civilians fleeing El-Fasher arrive in Al-Dabba town in northern Sudan every hour.
Separately, the Sudanese Public Prosecution registered 1,365 complaints from civilians displaced from El-Fasher in North Darfur and the Kordofan states about violations committed against them by the RSF.
In a statement, the prosecution said Attorney General Intisar Ahmed Abdel-Aal visited displacement camps in Al-Dabba to review the scale of violations committed in El-Fasher and Kordofan.
Last month, the RSF seized El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, and was accused of massacres. The group controls all five Darfur states, out of Sudan’s 18 states, while the army holds most of the remaining 13 states, including Khartoum.
Darfur makes up about one-fifth of Sudan’s territory, but most of the country’s 50 million people live in army-held areas.
The conflict in Sudan between the army and the RSF, which began in April 2023, has killed at least 40,000 people and displaced 12 million, according to the World Health Organization.