Sudan war: aid teams ask for access to thousands of people trapped in El Fasher

That ordeal reduced people to eating peanut shells and animal feed, U.N. human rights chief Volker Türk said Friday, before condemning mass killings of civilians, executions based on ethnicity and other atrocities, which are likely to continue.

At the Human Rights Council in Geneva, Mr. Türk told member states that blood stains on the ground at El Fasher can be seen from space.

“We warned that the fall of the city to the Rapid Support Forces would result in a bloodbath,” he said. before calling for immediate international action to stop the violence at a special meeting convened by the Member States concerned. ““Everyone involved in this conflict should know: we are watching and justice must prevail.” -the High Commissioner insisted.

Stranded, looking for help

According to the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, nearly 100,000 people have fled El Fasher and nearby villages in the last two weeks alone.

“They are stranded somewhere” said the head of the agency’s Port Sudan sub-office, Jacqueline Wilma Parlevliet. Families arriving in Tawila, about 50 kilometers from El Fasher, have recounted “unimaginable horrors” before and after fleeing the city, he said.

Briefing journalists in Geneva via video, Ms Parlevliet highlighted widespread reports of rape and sexual violence by fugitives and scenes of despair.

“Parents are searching for missing children, many of them traumatized due to the conflict and the dangerous journey to reach safety. Unable to pay ransoms, families have lost young male relatives to arrests or forced recruitment into armed groups.” explained the UNHCR official.

Those hoping to find safety away from El Fasher face increasingly dangerous journeys avoiding military checkpoints, with some traveling for up to 15 days with limited food and water before reaching refuge in places like Ad Dabbah in the northern state.

The small town on the banks of the Nile River is now home to at least 37,000 people from El Fasher and thousands more are believed to be on the way. Reports also indicate that armed groups are forcibly returning many people to El Fasher, where conditions are dire, UNHCR said, citing local sources.

“Thousands of people, particularly the elderly, disabled and injured, remain trapped, either unable to leave the city or without the means or strength to flee,” Parlevliet told reporters.

A crisis of staggering proportions

Sudan is the world’s largest displacement crisis, with more than 12 million people uprooted inside and outside the country.

For many of those trying to return to their homes elsewhere in the vast East African nation, the threat of unexploded weapons remains enormous, according to the UN Mine Action Service, UNMAS.

He noted that in the states of South Kordofan, West Kordofan and Blue Nile alone, 13 million square kilometers of land are contaminated.

“There are many other countries that are affected by explosive remnants of war and landmines… Sudan is very different. Why? Because the war happens mainly in urban areas,” said Sediq Rashid, Head of UNMAS Sudan, speaking from Port Sudan.

He explained that within the capital, Khartoum alone, risks ranged from unexploded and abandoned ordnance to anti-vehicle mines and anti-personnel mines.

Displaced families are especially at risk, often settling in unfamiliar locations “unaware of past conflict or contamination,” Rashid continued.

Meanwhile, civilian casualties caused by mines and other unexploded ordnance continue to rise, “and we know that the reported cases represent only a fraction of the true magnitude of the damage,” he said.