Sudan's military chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan announced late on Monday that the country's "army has retreated" from al-Fashir and thus confirmed that one of the last strongholds in the Darfur region had fallen in the brutal civil war that has been raging in the country since the spring of 2023.
Paramilitary RSF (Rapid Support Forces) said as early as Sunday that it had taken full control of the city. RSF is led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also called Hemedti. al-Burhan and Dagalo previously led the country together, but disagreements led to the civil war that has led to one of the world's worst ongoing humanitarian crises.
Genocide is feared
The UN is watching the situation with great concern after reports of summary executions - and warns that the situation for the civilian population is likely to become even worse in the near future.
The risk is also great for ethnically motivated crimes, according to the world organization. At the same time, activists share images that are said to show dead people.
"The risk of large-scale, ethnically motivated abuses and crimes is growing every day," says UN Human Rights Commissioner Volker Türk in a statement on Monday, where he also places particular emphasis on the fact that women and girls are at "extreme" risk of being subjected to sexual violence. He also repeats the demand that the parties take concrete steps to allow civilians to leave.
The World Health Organization WHO warned that the only functioning hospital in the city had been attacked.
The image material shared by democracy activists shows what is claimed to be dozens of people lying dead on the ground next to burnt-out vehicles. News agency AFP has not been able to contact civilians in the city, and the Sudanese journalists' union reports disruptions to communication opportunities, including satellite networks.
260,000 civilians trapped
According to the statement from Volker Türk, they have also received information that hundreds of civilians have been taken captive as they tried to flee, in addition to video clips of this kind.
The level of suffering we are witnessing in Sudan is unbearable, says UN Secretary-General António Guterres.
There are about 260,000 civilians trapped in the city, half of them children. Despite repeated international appeals for a ceasefire, neither side has shown a willingness to compromise.
