CAIRO, Nov 9, (AP): Tens of thousands of Sudanese have fled to overcrowded camps to escape reported atrocities by a paramilitary force since it captured el-Fasher in the western Darfur region, an aid group said Saturday, and the UN human rights chief warned that many others are still trapped. Those who reach shelter in Tawila, about 70 kilometers (43 miles) from el-Fasher, find themselves stranded in a barren area with barely enough tents, many of them improvised from patched tarps and sheets, according to a video posted by the group Sudan’s IDPs and Refugee Camps.

It shows children running across the area as a few adults carry a large pot of food, hoping it will be enough to feed the growing crowds of displaced. Since the Rapid Support Forces seized el-Fasher from the rival military Oct. 26, more than 16,200 people have fled to the camps in Tawila, said Adam Rojal, spokesperson for the aid group.

The International Organization for Migration estimates that around 82,000 people had fled the city and surrounding areas as of Nov. 4, heading to safe spots including Tawila, an area already overcrowded with the displaced from previous attacks, with some making the journey on foot. Abu Bakr Hammad, director of medical activities with aid group Doctors Without Borders in Tawila Hospital, told The Associated Press on Saturday that the hospital has received at least 1,500 people who fled el-Fasher since Oct. 26, suffering from a range of injuries including broken fractures.

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 are facing acute food insecurity.

Last week, the RSF seized el-Fasher after 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.

MSF, the abbreviation for Doctors Without Borders' French name Medecins Sans Frontieres, said Friday that 300 people arrived in Tawila on Thursday alone after fleeing el-Fasher. MSF teams reported "extremely high levels of malnutrition among children and adults.” The displaced in Tawila are in urgent need of food, medicine, shelter materials and psychosocial support, Rojal told The Associated Press.