Fears are mounting of mass killings in the city of el-Fasher after the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) captured it from government forces.
In a address on Monday evening, Sudan's military chief Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan said he had approved the withdrawal of troops in response to the "systematic destruction and killing of civilians".
The UN said there were credible reports of "summary executions", while Yale University's Humanitarian Research Lab referred to satellite imagery of "piles of bodies executed en masse".
The RSF has denied accusations of killing civilians and targeting non-Arab ethnic groups, despite evidence presented by the UN and human rights organisations.
Senior UN refugee agency official in Sudan, Jacqueline Wilma Parlevliet, said there had been “significant outflow out of El Fasher into Tawila” – around 60 kilometres west of the city – which is already hosting around 650,000 displaced.
New arrivals have recounted stories of widespread ethnically and politically motivated killings, including reports of people with disabilities being executed because they were unable to flee, and others being shot as they tried to escape, said Ms. Parlevliet.
he UNHCR official warned that the destruction of infrastructure across Darfur – markets, hospitals, schools, and homes – has left civilians with few resources.
In addition, reports have emerged of “massive killings” in the city of Barah, located in the central Kordofan region, where the RSF recently seized control and carried out similar acts of violence, reported UNHCR.
“We need peace, we need a ceasefire, we need humanitarian corridors,” Ms. Parlevliet said, emphasising that many civilians left in El Fasher remain unable to flee, with many of them being “too weak” and the ongoing situation being “too dangerous” for them to move.
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