Sudanese force's capture of Darfur city could entrench country's split

A Sudanese paramilitary force is battling the last pockets of resistance in a Darfur city that has endured a brutal 18-month siege and where a full takeover

would entrench a geographical division of the country between rival military factions.



The advance by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has also raised fears of reprisals against the estimated 250,000 people remaining in al-Fashir, the final holdout of the Sudanese army in the western Darfur region, and of an escalation of fighting elsewhere in Sudan.



Since Sunday, when the RSF said it had captured the army's headquarters in al-Fashir, RSF fighters have been detaining fleeing civilians in nearby towns and villages, witnesses as well as humanitarian and military sources said. Some 26,000 people had been displaced by the fighting, the International

Organization for Migration said.



Two Sudanese military sources said on Monday that thousands of soldiers from the army and allied former rebel groups were surrounded by RSF fighters after retreating into neighbourhoods in western al-Fashir.