The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) announced on Sunday that they have taken complete control of al-Fashir, marking a significant development in the ongoing civil conflict in Sudan. Al-Fashir was the last major city in the expansive Darfur region that had not fallen under RSF control, signaling a potentially pivotal moment in the relentless war.

Volker Turk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, expressed grave concern, revealing that his office has received alarming reports of civilians being summarily executed while attempting to escape the violence. There are troubling indications that these killings may be driven by ethnic motivations.

The rights office also highlighted a particularly distressing risk for women and girls in North Darfur, where the threat of sexual violence remains exceedingly high, given the region’s tumultuous history.

Summary executions of civilians by RSF fighters were also being reported in Bara city in North Kordofan state in western Sudan, it said, with dozens of civilians allegedly killed.