The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) seized control of El-Fasher, the last major city in Sudan's Darfur region held by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), one week ago after an 18-month siege characterized by starvation and bombardment.
This takeover has exacerbated the ongoing civil war, leaving tens of thousands of civilians trapped amid reports of mass executions, torture, sexual violence, and abductions.
International aid agencies, including Solidarites International and Doctors Without Borders (MSF), have urgently called for both warring parties to allow greater access for humanitarian relief, as millions in western Sudan face dire needs for food, water, medication, and shelter.
Mediators from the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Egypt have condemned the violence and pushed for a ceasefire, but efforts have yet to yield results.
Survivors who escaped the RSF advance report harrowing experiences, including being rounded up, beaten, and detained in facilities like a school in Garni, 25 kilometers northwest of El-Fasher.
One detainee described being held with roughly 200 other young men, fed only one meal a day, and subjected to insults and physical abuse.
Up to 15,000 people are believed stuck on roads and in inaccessible villages due to security risks, with only a few hundred reaching safety in Tawila, about 50 kilometers away.
In al-Dabbah refugee camp in Northern State, new arrivals from El-Fasher have overwhelmed resources, forcing many to sleep in the open.
MSF officials noted that new displacement numbers do not align with the scale of those unaccounted for, raising alarms over the fate of the missing after months of famine and violence.
The United States has reiterated demands for the RSF to halt retribution and ethnic violence, referencing past massacres in West Darfur's El Geneina and urging a negotiated end to the conflict.
Republican Senator Jim Risch called for designating the RSF as a foreign terrorist organization.
Witnesses, including those separated by gender, age, and ethnicity, recounted targeted attacks based on skin color, with some paying ransoms for release while others remain captive or feared dead.
Aid workers in Tawila observed widespread trauma, with families desperately searching for loved ones amid fears of atrocities reminiscent of the Janjaweed era two decades ago.