Just how many people are still trapped in the Sudanese city of El Fasher? That's the burning question for relatives of the many thousands of people believed to still be there, since paramilitary fighters overran the regional capital of North Darfur last month, after a 500-day siege.
That ordeal reduced people to eating peanut shells and animal feed, UN human rights chief Volker Türk said on Friday, before condemning the reported mass killings of civilians, executions based on ethnicity and other atrocities, which are likely continuing.
At the Human Rights Council in Geneva, Mr. Türk told Member States that bloodstains on the ground in 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 concerned Member States. "All those involved in this conflict should know: we are watching you, and justice must prevail," the High Commissioner insisted.
Stranded, seeking help
According to the UN refugee agency, UNHCR , nearly 100,000 people have fled El Fasher and villages close by in the last two weeks alone.
"They are stranded somewhere," said the agency's Head of Sub Office in Port Sudan, Jacqueline Wilma Parlevliet. Families arriving in Tawila, about 50 kilometres from El Fasher have recounted "unimaginable horrors" before and after fleeing the city, she said.
Briefing journalists in Geneva via video, Ms. Parlevliet highlighted widespread reports of rape and sexual violence by escapees and scenes of desperation.
"Parents are searching for missing children, many traumatized due to 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," the UNHCR official explained.
Those hoping to find safety away from El Fasher face ever more dangerous journeys skirting around military checkpoints, some travelling for up to 15 days with limited food and water before reaching shelter in locations including Ad Dabbah in Northern state.
The small town on the bank of the river Nile now houses at least 37,000 people from El Fasher and thousands more are thought to be on their 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, those with disabilities and the wounded, remain trapped, either prevented from leaving the city or lacking the means or strength to flee," Ms. Parlevliet told journalists.
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 attempting to return home elsewhere in the vast east African nation, the threat of unexploded weapons remains huge, according to the UN Mine Action Service , UNMAS.
It noted that in South Kordofan, West Kordofan, and Blue Nile States alone, 13 million square kilometres 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, war is mainly happening in urban areas," said Sediq Rashid, Chief of UNMAS Sudan, speaking from Port Sudan.
He explained that just within the capital, Khartoum, risks ranged from unexploded and abandoned ammunitions, anti-vehicle mines and anti-personnel mines.
Displaced families are particularly at risk, often settling in unfamiliar locations "without any awareness of past conflicts or contamination", Mr. Rashid continued.
Meanwhile, civilian casualties from mines and other unexploded ordnance continue to rise - "and we know that the cases that are being reported represent only a fraction of the true scale of the harm", he said.
