At least 36,000 Sudanese have fled since fall of El Fasher to RSF, says UN agency

International Organization for Migration says refugees are heading to Tawila, which is already sheltering 652,000 displaced people

More than 36,000 people have fled Sudan’s Kordofan region east of Darfur since Saturday, the UN’s migration agency has said, a week after the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces took control of the city of El Fasher.

The strategic central area between the country’s Darfur provinces and the Khartoum-Riverine region that includes the capital to the east, has in recent weeks become the latest battleground in the two-year civil war between the Sudanese armed forces (SAF) and the paramilitary group.

An estimated 36,825 people fled five localities in North Kordofan state between 26 October – the day El Fasher fell to RSF – and 31 October, the International Organization for Migration said late on Sunday.

The people, most on foot, headed to Tawila, a town west of El Fasher that is sheltering more than 652,000 displaced people, the UN said.