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Humanitarian group says at least 400 children reached Tawila without their parents after Rapid Support Forces\u2019 advance.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Hundreds of Sudanese children have arrived in the town of Tawila in Sudan\u2019s western Darfur region without their parents since the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) seized control of the city of el-Fasher last month, a humanitarian group says.<\/p>\n The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) said on Thursday that at least 400 unaccompanied children had arrived in Tawila but that the real number was likely much higher.<\/p>\n list of 3 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n \u201cChildren are reaching Tawila exhausted and deeply distressed, often after days of walking through the desert,\u201d the group said.<\/p>\n \u201cMany arrive terrified of the armed groups they fled from or might have encountered on the road. Many became separated from their parents during the chaos of flight, while others\u2019 parents are believed to have gone missing, been detained or killed.\u201d<\/p>\n The RSF seized control of el-Fasher \u2013 the capital of Sudan\u2019s North Darfur state \u2013 on October 26 after an 18-month siege that cut residents off from food, medicine and other critical supplies.<\/p>\n The paramilitary group, which has been battling the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) for control of Sudan since April 2023, has been accused of committing mass killings, kidnappings and widespread acts of sexual violence in its takeover of the city.<\/p>\n The RSF has denied targeting civilians or blocking aid, saying such activities are due to rogue actors.<\/p>\n But United Nations human rights chief Volker Turk said in mid-November that the \u201catrocities\u201d that have unfolded in el-Fasher \u201cconstitute the gravest of crimes\u201d.<\/p>\n More than 100,000 people have fled el-Fasher since the RSF\u2019s takeover last month, according to the latest figures from the UN, with many seeking refuge in nearby Chad.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the NRC said on Thursday that it had registered at least 15,000 new arrivals in Tawila, about 60km (37 miles) from el-Fasher, since October 26. More than 200 children are being registered each day on average, it added.<\/p>\n Nidaa, a teacher with the humanitarian group\u2019s education programme in Tawila, said children arrive showing \u201csigns of acute trauma\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we first started our classes, some of the children could not speak at all when they arrived. Others were waking up with nightmares,\u201d she said. \u201cThey describe hiding for hours, travelling at night to avoid attacks, and becoming separated from family in the chaos.\u201d<\/p>\n Humanitarian groups have said the already heavily populated displacement camps in Tawila are becoming overwhelmed with the influx of new arrivals from el-Fasher and its surrounding villages.<\/p>\n The Sudanese American Physicians Association estimated in early November that more than 650,000 internally displaced people from el-Fasher and other parts of Darfur had sought refuge in Tawila amid months of fighting in the region.<\/p>\nRecommended Stories <\/h2>\n
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