Families separated, children killed as survivors escape Sudanese city

Survivors fleeing the Sudanese city of El-Fasher told AFP on Saturday that paramilitary fighters separated families and killed children in front of their parents, with tens of thousands still trapped following the city’s fall.

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Communications with El-Fasher remain severely limited, but satellite images suggest evidence of mass killings in the Sudanese city (Handout). AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE

(AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE)

Germany’s top diplomat Johann Wadephul described on Saturday the situation in Sudan as “apocalyptic” while fresh satellite images suggested mass killings were likely ongoing, five days after the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces seized El-Fasher.

At war with the regular army since April 2023, the RSF pushed the military out of its last stronghold in the vast Darfur region after a grinding 18-month siege.

Since the takeover, reports have emerged of summary executions, sexual violence, attacks on aid workers, looting, and abductions, while communications remain largely cut off.

"I don’t know if my son Mohamed is dead or alive. They took all the boys," Zahra, a mother of six who fled El-Fasher to the nearby town of Tawila, told AFP in a satellite phone interview.