Escalating crisis in Sudan: Military chief visits displacement camp amid rising atrocities

Sudan's military chief visited a displacement camp on Saturday, hosting people who fled the city of el-Fasher after a paramilitary force captured the city.

General Abdel-Fattah Burhan was greeted by people and surrounded by military personnel.

Tens of thousands of Sudanese have fled to overcrowded camps to escape reported atrocities by the Rapid Support Forces since it captured el-Fasher in the western Darfur region, an aid group said Saturday.

The U.N. human rights chief warned that many others are still trapped.

The RSF and the Sudanese army have been at war since April 2023, following simmering tensions over control of Africa's third-largest nation.

At least 40,000 people have been killed, according to the World Health Organization, though the actual toll might be many times higher.

Some 12 million people have been displaced, and nearly half the population is facing acute food insecurity.

Last week, the RSF seized eEl-Fasherafter an 18-month siege.

The paramilitary rampaged through the Saudi Hospital in the city, killing over 450 people, according to the WHO, and went house to house, killing civilians and committing sexual assaults.

The RSF has denied killing anyone at the Saudi hospital, but testimonies from those fleeing, online videos and satellite images offer an apocalyptic vision of the attack.