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As stated by the UN refugee agency, more than 60,000 people have escaped the city in Sudan of el-Fasher, which was taken over by the militia Rapid Support Forces recently.

Accounts suggest summary killings and human rights violations as militia members entered the city following an 18-month encirclement marked by famine and intense shelling.

The movement of those escaping the fighting towards the community of Tawila, about 80km (50 miles) to the west of el-Fasher, had increased in the last several days, as stated by UNHCR spokesperson.

Survivors were describing terrible stories of violence, such as sexual violence, and the organization was struggling to find adequate accommodation and nourishment for them.

Every child was affected by nutritional deficiencies, she noted.

It is estimated that more than 150,000 people are currently unable to leave in el-Fasher, which had been the army's last stronghold in the western region of Darfur.

The Rapid Support Forces has denied broad claims that the killings in el-Fasher are driven by ethnicity and mirror a practice of the Arab fighters targeting non-Arab communities.

However the RSF has arrested one of its members, Abu Lulu, who has been implicated in extrajudicial killings.

The force distributed recordings showing the militiaman's detention subsequent to confirmation that he was responsible for the death of multiple unarmed men in the vicinity of el-Fasher.

Social media platform has acknowledged that it has banned the channel connected to Lulu. It is not clear whether he had operated the profile in his name.

Sudan was thrown into a civil war in April 2023 when a brutal contest for control began between its army and the Rapid Support Forces.

This has resulted in a famine and claims of genocide in the western Sudan.

More than 150,000 persons have died in the conflict around the country, and approximately 12 million have abandoned their homes in what the United Nations has called the most extensive humanitarian crisis.

The takeover of el-Fasher reinforces the territorial division in the country, with the Rapid Support Forces now in command of the western region and significant areas of bordering Kordofan to the south, and the army holding the capital, Khartoum, central and eastern regions along the Red Sea.

The opposing sides had been collaborators - gaining control together in a takeover in 2021 - but split over an internationally backed initiative to transition to democratic governance.