Following accusations of massacres, the aid head claims the UN is pressing to enter al-Fashir in Sudan.

According to UN assistance chief Tom Fletcher, the UN is working to secure access to al-Fashir, a famine-stricken city in Darfur where witnesses have claimed widespread retaliation after Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces took control last month.

Following claims of systematic executions, detentions, and rapes, Fletcher told Reuters that aiding the city—which would be considered a “crime scene” for investigations—would be an enormous undertaking.

After a protracted siege, the paramilitary RSF took control of al-Fashir, although many of the people believed to have stayed are still missing.

In an interview late Tuesday from N’Djamena in Chad, after a visit to Darfur, Fletcher stated that safe passage was necessary for survivors to depart and for humanitarians to enter the city.

Despite the “extremely delicate” nature of the talks with the RSF, Fletcher expressed hope that the UN would be granted access in a matter of days or weeks rather than months. “We’ll work hard to get in,” he declared.

Characteristics ‘ON A HORRIFIC SCALE’

In its two-and-a-half-year conflict with the Sudanese army, the RSF has solidified its hold on the Darfur region with the fall of Al-Fashir on October 26. Since the RSF offensive, communications have been cut off to the city.

“There have been mass atrocities, mass executions, mass torture, sexual violence on a horrific scale,” Fletcher stated. “This is a city that has been under siege for so long, they’ll need food, water, medicine.”

Adding, “There’s a massive job ahead of us,”

Although it was looking into allegations of abuse by its soldiers, the RSF claims that accounts of atrocities have been overblown. According to the International Criminal Court, it is gathering proof of suspected rapes and mass murders at al-Fashir.

Only a small portion of the estimated 100,000 or more individuals who have fled al-Fashir since the RSF takeover have made it to the neutrally-controlled town of Tawila, which is nearby.

The majority of the remaining people are believed to be in remote communities near al-Fashir.

STRIVE FOR COMPLETE ACCESS

The 350-kilometer (217-mile) journey from Tawila to the Chadian border was deemed “utterly perilous” by Fletcher, who visited the area where an estimated half a million displaced people were already seeking shelter.

A small number of people lacked the means to pass through the estimated 30 to 40 checkpoints along the road, “which is why it’s so urgent that we get the full authority to operate at scale inside Sudan — inside Darfur, Tawila, and in al-Fashir,” he stated.

Aid delivery, according to Fletcher, would depend on the RSF ensuring the safe passage of UN convoys, evacuating people, and holding atrocity-committing fighters accountable.

Additionally, the head of UN aid stated that he met with General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the head of Sudan’s army, last week in Port Sudan to discuss complete access to the nation. In the past, the Sudanese army has blocked such access with bureaucratic obstacles.