UN workers visit El-Fasher ‘crime scene’

A small UN humanitarian team was able to visit Sudan's El-Fasher, a city that fell to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in October amid reports of mass atrocities, report France24. They found traumatised civilians living without water or sanitation in a city haunted by famine, according to UN aid co-ordinator Denise Brown. El-Fasher fell to the paramilitary RSF in October after more than 500 days of siege, and last Friday a small UN humanitarian team was able to make its first short visit in almost two years. The capture of the city was reportedly accompanied by mass atrocities, including massacres, torture and sexual violence. Satellite pictures reviewed by AFP show what appear to be mass graves. Brown described the city as a ‘crime scene’, but said investigations would be carried out by human rights experts while her office focuses on restoring aid to the survivors. ‘We weren't able to see any of the detainees, and we believe there are detainees,’ she said. From a humanitarian point of view, she said, El-Fasher remains Sudan's ‘epicentre of human suffering’ and the city – which once held more than a m i l l i o n people – is still facing a famine. ‘El-Fasher is a ghost of its former self,’ Brown said.