Paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF)
© AFP via Getty Images
The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) have been forced out of El Fasher by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) after a yearlong siege, allowing the rebels to gain control of the western Darfur region, officials announced Tuesday.

A Tuesday statement from the Joint Forces, which is allied with Sudan's army, said the RSF "committed heinous crimes against innocent civilians in the city of El-Fasher, where more than 2,000 unarmed citizens were executed and killed on Oct. 26 and 27, most of them women, children and the elderly," according to the Times of Israel.

Over 460 patients and companions were killed at the Saudi Maternity Hospital in El Fasher, according to a statement from Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
"All attacks on health care MUST STOP immediately and unconditionally," Ghebreyesus said.
An estimated 150,000 people have died and another 14 million have been displaced from their homes, according to CNN. The SAF has been trying to prevent the RSF from establishing a parallel government in the region since April 2023. (RELATED: What's Trump Really Up To With Socialist Dictator)

Sudan's army chief and head of state, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, announced the retreat from El Fasher in a broadcast Monday.
"We agreed ... to leave the city and go to a safe place in order to avoid the rest of the citizens and the rest of the city from the destruction," he said, according to a translation.

"This people will win, and this battle will be decided in favor of the Sudanese people," al-Burhan said.

"We confirm that we will proceed to cleanse this land of every filth and every abomination, and to eliminate these mercenaries, hired killers," he stated in the broadcast.

The RSF claimed it is committed to "protecting civilians within the city of Al-Fashir following its liberation from the control of the terrorist Islamic Movement army and its mercenary militias," according to a Sunday statement.

It offered "safe corridors for anyone wishing to relocate to other areas, and the necessary protection for all those present within the city," according to the press release.
"Our forces reassure the Sudanese people in general, and the residents of Al-Fashir in particular, that the primary objective of liberating the city is to eliminate the threats and dangers that citizens suffered due to the terrorists," the press release stated. "This marks the continuation of efforts to consolidate security and stability and to build a Sudan based on the principles of peace, justice and equality for all."
One refugee told Reuters how she escaped from Al-Fashir with four injured children.
"We were running and they were chasing us. They were firing missiles ahead and behind us," the refugee said, telling the outlet that she was separated from her husband after they were stopped at an RSF barrier.
Paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF)
© LUIS TATO/AFP via Getty ImagesSudanese families who have fled from the war in Sudan carry their belongings while arriving at a Transit Centre for refugees in Renk, on February 14, 2024.More than 550,000 people have now fled from the war in Sudan to South Sudan since the conflict exploded in April 2023, according to the United Nations. South Sudan, that has itself recently come out of decades of war, was facing a dire humanitarian situation before the war in Sudan erupted and it is feared to not have the resources to host displaced people. The war-torn country of Sudan is currently ravaged by internal fighting between the Sudanese Army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
The refugee asserted the RSF separated the men from the women, lined the men up and called for them to join their forces. When none volunteered, some of the men were beaten and killed.
"They shot them in front of us. They shot them in the street," the refugee told Reuters.
The women and children were allowed to leave, where they continued to hear the sounds of beatings and gunshots.
"The soldiers told us to go ahead and the men will follow, but we never saw them again," she said.
Former Secretary of State Antony Blinken accused the RSF and its allied Arab militias of genocide in January, CNN reported.

Blinken said the RSF "targeted fleeing civilians, murdering innocent people escaping conflict, and prevented remaining civilians from accessing lifesaving supplies." The former secretary of state also accused those forces of targeting women and girls from specific ethnic groups for "rape and other forms of brutal sexual violence." He stated that the RSF and other militias targeted men and boys based on their ethnicity.
"Based on this information, I have now concluded that members of the RSF and allied militias have committed genocide in Sudan," Blinken said in January.