ISTANBUL

More than 150 Sudanese women were subjected to rape and sexual harassment while fleeing the city of El-Fasher in North Darfur, a local civil group said Friday.

Adam Regal, a spokesman for the General Coordination for Displaced Persons and Refugees in Darfur, told the Sudan Tribune that militants from the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) chased fleeing civilians along escape routes, detaining some in the area of Qarni, where thousands of stranded people remain trapped, including children separated from their families.

He said more than 1,300 people have been injured by gunfire, while over 1,210 children are suffering from malnutrition, and 700 elderly individuals are in critical health conditions.

Regal added that the number of survivors who managed to reach Tawila town, about 60 kilometers (37 miles) west of El-Fasher, has exceeded 15,000, many of whom are in poor health due to injuries and violence they suffered during their escape.

He urged international and humanitarian organizations to provide life-saving medicine, food, safe water sources, shelter materials, sanitation facilities, psychological support and safe spaces for children traumatized by the horrific scenes they witnessed along the way.

Tawila, which has already received thousands of displaced civilians in recent months, is now hosting more than 1 million internally displaced persons, Regal said, warning that the situation requires urgent humanitarian assistance to meet their basic needs.

The RSF captured El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state, on Oct. 26 and committed massacres against civilians, according to local and international organizations, amid warnings that the assault could entrench the geographical partition of Sudan.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimated that more than 81,000 people have been displaced from El-Fasher and its surroundings since the RSF takeover.

Since April 15, 2023, the Sudanese army and the RSF have been locked in a war that regional and international mediations have failed to end. The conflict has killed thousands of people and displaced millions of others.