ISTANBUL

Some 750 children have fled El-Fasher city in western Sudan without their families amid attacks by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a local group said Saturday.

In a statement, the Darfur Displaced and Refugees Coordination Committee said that over 36,000 people have escaped El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state, due to escalating violence.

The Sudanese group stressed that the displaced families are in urgent need of food, with most of them now concentrated in Tawila, nearly 60 kilometers from El-Fasher.

It called for piling pressure on the RSF and the army to enforce a ceasefire, highlighting reports of sexual violence against the displaced civilians from El-Fasher.

The group said that most of the displaced civilians from the city suffer from severe malnutrition, with the majority being children and the elderly.

The El-Fasher Resistance Coordination, a grassroots committee, also said in a statement that more than 450 children have reached safe areas without their families after losing them while fleeing bombardment and attacks on civilians in the city.

Many children and wounded people are still stranded in the open without shelter or protection after escaping from El-Fasher, it added.

The committee also revealed that over 460 patients and injured people have arrived in critical health conditions, lacking the most basic means of treatment and care.

On Wednesday, RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti) admitted that “violations” had occurred by his forces in El-Fasher, claiming that investigation committees had been formed.

Since April 15, 2023, the Sudanese army and the RSF have been locked in a war that numerous regional and international mediations have failed to end. The conflict has killed about 20,000 people and displaced over 15 million as refugees and internally displaced persons, according to UN and local reports.