• Doctors Without Borders reports alarming malnutrition among displaced children

BRUSSELS

The UN Human Rights Office on Monday voiced alarm over reports of "widespread atrocities, including summary executions," by Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) following its recent advances in the city of El Fasher, North Darfur, and the city of Bara in North Kordofan state.

The office said it has received "multiple, alarming reports" of civilians being executed and detained as the RSF took control of large parts of the besieged city of El Fasher and the city of Bara in North Kordofan.

"In El Fasher, initial reports indicate an extremely precarious situation since the RSF yesterday announced its takeover of the army’s 6th Infantry Division," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said in a statement.

"The risk of further large-scale, ethnically motivated violations and atrocities in El Fasher is mounting by the day. Urgent and concrete action needs to be taken urgently to ensure the protection of civilians in El Fasher and safe passage for those trying to reach relative safety," he added.

The UN said it has received distressing video evidence showing dozens of unarmed men being shot or found dead, surrounded by RSF fighters who accuse them of belonging to the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF). Reports also indicate that hundreds of civilians, including a journalist, have been detained while attempting to flee.

"The RSF must urgently take concrete steps to end and prevent abuses against civilians in both El Fasher and Bara, including ethnically motivated violence and reprisal attacks," Turk said.

Meanwhile, medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) issued a statement pleading for civilians' lives to be spared in El Fasher, warning of the risk of another "massacre."

"Given the ethnic-based violence spiking across Darfur for over two years and the large-scale massacres committed in Zamzam camp for internally displaced people when it was taken by the RSF and their allies last April, we are deeply alarmed that this could happen again in El Fasher," the group said.

MSF teams working in the nearby town of Tawila, about 60 kilometers (37 miles) away, reported receiving dozens of injured people from El Fasher in the last two days. Around 1,000 people arrived overnight between October 26 and 27, with many requiring emergency medical treatment.

The organization also reported alarming levels of malnutrition among displaced children, saying 75% of children under five screened last week were acutely malnourished, including 26% severely.

"This shocking rate of malnutrition is a testament to the horror unfolding in El Fasher, where famine has been spreading as the RSF has been attacking and besieging the area for more than 500 days, preventing food and aid from reaching starving people at all costs," MSF added.

Last Thursday, four UN agencies—the International Organization for Migration, UNICEF, the World Food Program (WFP), and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR)—said that 260,000 civilians are trapped in El-Fasher, including 130,000 children suffering from acute food shortages and lack of health care services.

El-Fasher has witnessed fierce fighting for weeks between the army and the RSF, following a multi-front assault by the paramilitary group, which has surrounded the city from five directions in an attempt to seize control of it due to its strategic importance.

The RSF has been besieging El-Fasher since May 10, 2024.

The army and the RSF have been fighting since April 2023, which has killed thousands of people and displaced millions of others.