Over 36,000 Sudanese people have escaped since fall of El Fasher to RSF, says UN agency
More than 36,000 people have escaped Sudan's Kordofan region east of Darfur since Saturday, according to the UN's migration organization.
The strategic central area between the country's Darfur regions and the Khartoum-Riverine area has in recent weeks become the recent fighting area in the two-year civil war between the Sudanese military forces and the paramilitary forces.
Substantial Displacement Numbers
An approximated 36,825 people escaped five localities in North Kordofan province between 26 October and 31 October, according to the International Organization for Migration.
The civilians, mainly traveling by foot, headed to Tawila, a town western side of El Fasher that is currently housing in excess of 652,000 evacuated individuals.
Increased Forces Deployment
Local inhabitants of North Kordofan on Monday reported a significant increase in both RSF and army concentration across towns and villages throughout the state.
Both military groups are competing for control of El Obeid, the North Kordofan state capital and a critical supply and command base that joins Darfur to Khartoum.
"Today, all our forces have gathered at the Bara front here," said an RSF member in a recently distributed video message.
Local Inhabitants Detail Security Concerns
A area citizen of Um Smeima, located west of El Obeid, stated that the number of RSF vehicles had increased considerably since the group's capture of El Fasher.
"We stopped going to our farms, fearing confrontations," the local stated.
Another inhabitant, who requested anonymity for safety concerns, also confirmed that "there has been a significant rise in army vehicles and weapons west and south of El Obeid" over the last fourteen days.
World Alarms and Requests
A senior UN official raised the alarm last week about "large-scale atrocities" and "ethnically motivated reprisals" by RSF in Bara.
The diplomat warned of patterns comparable to patterns in Darfur, where RSF combatants have been alleged to commit mass killings, sexual violence and abductions against certain racial groups.
The spiritual head on Sunday urged an quick cessation of hostilities and the creation of humanitarian corridors in Sudan, saying that attacks on civilians and obstacles to humanitarian aid "are producing unacceptable suffering."
Sudan's official envoy to Egypt on Sunday charged RSF of committing war crimes in El Fasher and declared that the Sudanese government would not engage with the paramilitary group.
The ambassador further urged the world nations to classify the group as a terrorist entity.
