\n Satellite imagery suggests mass killings are likely continuing in and around Sudan's El-Fasher, Yale researchers said, as Germany's top diplomat on Saturday described the situation there as \"apocalyptic\".\n<\/p>\n
\n At war with the regular army since April 2023, the Rapid Support Forces seized El-Fasher on Sunday, pushing the military out of its last stronghold in the western Darfur region after a grinding 18-month siege.\n<\/p>\n
\n Since the city's fall, reports have emerged of summary executions, sexual violence, attacks on aid workers, looting and abductions, while communications remain largely cut off.\n<\/p>\n
\n Survivors from El-Fasher who reached the nearby town of Tawila have told AFP of mass killings, children shot before their parents, and civilians beaten and robbed as they fled.\n<\/p>\n
\n Hayat, a mother of five who fled the city, said that \"young men travelling with us were stopped\" along the way by paramilitaries and \"we don't know what happened to them\".\n<\/p>\n
\n Yale University's Humanitarian Research Lab said fresh satellite images from Friday showed \"no large-scale movement\", giving them reason to believe much of the population may be \"dead, captured, or in hiding\".\n<\/p>\n
\n The lab identified at least 31 clusters of objects consistent with human bodies between Monday and Friday, across neighbourhoods, university grounds and military sites.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"Indicators that mass killing is continuing are clearly visible,\" the lab said.\n<\/p>\n
\n The UN says more than 65,000 people have fled El-Fasher but tens of thousands remain trapped. Around 260,000 people were in the city before the RSF's final assault.\n<\/p>\n
\n At a conference in Bahrain on Saturday, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said Sudan was \"absolutely an apocalyptic situation, the greatest humanitarian crisis of the world\".\n<\/p>\n
\n He added that the RSF had \"pledged to protect civilians and they will be held accountable for these actions\".\n<\/p>\n
\n - 'Truly horrifying' -\n<\/p>\n
\n Speaking at the same event, British Foreign Minister Yvette Cooper also described the reported abuses as \"truly horrifying\".\n<\/p>\n
\n \"Atrocities, mass executions, starvation and the devastating use of rape as a weapon of war, with women and children bearing the brunt of the largest humanitarian crisis in the 21st century,\" she said.\n<\/p>\n
\n The RSF said Thursday that it had arrested several fighters accused of abuses during the capture of El-Fasher, and the paramilitary group's chief Mohamed Hamdan Daglo pledged accountability for \"anyone who has made a mistake\".\n<\/p>\n
\n However, UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher questioned the RSF's commitment to investigate these atrocities.\n<\/p>\n
\n Both the RSF -- descended from the Janjaweed militias accused of genocide in Darfur two decades ago -- and the army have faced war crimes accusations over the course of the conflict.\n<\/p>\n
\n The US has previously determined the RSF committed genocide in Darfur.\n<\/p>\n
\n The RSF has received weapons and drones from the UAE, according to UN reports, though Abu Dhabi has denied giving any support to the paramilitary group.\n<\/p>\n
\n Meanwhile, the army has drawn on support from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Turkey.\n<\/p>\n
\n El-Fasher's capture gives the RSF full control over all five state capitals in Darfur, effectively splitting Sudan along an east-west axis, with the army controlling the north, east and centre.\n<\/p>\n
\n UN officials have warned that the violence is now spreading to the neighbouring Kordofan region, with reports emerging of \"large-scale atrocities perpetrated\" by the RSF.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Satellite imagery suggests mass killings are likely continuing in and around Sudan's El-Fasher, Yale researchers said, as Germany's top diplomat on Saturday described the situation there as \"apocalyptic\". At war with the regular army since April 2023, the Rapid Support Forces seized El-Fasher on Sunday, pushing the military out of its last stronghold in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-151615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n