A charity worker has said that there is a "systemic campaign of destruction" under way in Sudan amid the ongoing civil war.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Mathilde Vu, Sudan Advocacy Manager with the Norwegian Refugee Council, said there is "no word" to describe the suffering, particularly in the captured city of El-Fasher.
More than 36,000 civilians have fled the city since Sunday, when the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) captured the army's last stronghold in the Darfur region, triggering warnings from the UN and humanitarian groups of possible mass killings and ethnic cleansing.
Some have sought refuge in Tawila, a town around 70km to the west that is already sheltering some 650,000 displaced people.
The capture of El-Fasher comes after more than 18 months of brutal siege, sparking fears of a return to the ethnically targeted atrocities of 20 years ago.
"People have been starved, people have been bombed on a weekly basis," Ms Vu said.
"There's been no humanitarian assistance allowed in the city of El-Fasher. There's been no traders in. People resorted to eating animal food in order to survive and to drink rain water."
She said that there has been a mass assault on civilians and thousands of people have fled, many of whom are "completely disappearing, either because they've been detained or because they've been killed as they were trying to flee".
Ms Vu said her team is about 60km from El-Fasher, which is where they receive those who have managed to leave.
She said they have only taken in around 5,000 people so far, despite tens of thousands of people attempting to flee.
"People are exhausted, starved, malnourished, thirsty, traumatised, and they are arriving in an open air camp where there is little assistance because we're completely overwhelmed," she said.
"There is an outbreak of cholera that is killing people on a weekly basis. They can barely find food, they can barely have a shelter. Many of them are just sleeping on the ground."
Ms Vu said around 70% of funding needed for Sudan is "just not there" and there has been a "complete international neglect".
She said they are being forced to make "heartbreaking" decisions to provide aid to those who are most vulnerable and "leave so many behind".
"We're barely saving lives at the moment, we're just delaying death," she added.
"There hasn't been an international momentum at the highest level, political attention at the highest level, to end this war, to pressure the warring parties and the backers of the warring parties to ensure that protection of civilians is upheld and to ensure that humanitarian access is also respected.
"None of this has happened."
Read: Who are the actors in Sudan's devastating war?
Meanwhile, the RSF has said that they had arrested several of their fighters accused of committing abuses during the capture of El-Fasher.
In a statement late yesterday, the RSF said it had detained several fighters accused of "violations that occurred during the liberation" of El-Fasher, including one known as Abu Lulu who appeared in multiple videos on his TikTok committing summary executions.
In one clip verified by AFP, he is seen shooting unarmed men at close range.
Another shows him standing among armed men near dozens of bodies and burnt vehicles.
The RSF released a video appearing to show Abu Lulu behind bars in what they claimed to be a North Darfur prison. It said "legal committees" had begun investigations "in preparation for bringing them (the fighters) to justice".
The group also affirmed its adherence to "the law, rules of conduct and military discipline during wartime".
More: 'Pain, suffering': the tragedy of Sudan's 'forgotten war'
Additional reporting AFP
