Sudanese paramilitaries from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) claimed to have arrested several of their fighters suspected of abuses during the capture of El-Facher, with the UN on Friday calling for "swift and transparent" investigations after "horrifying accounts" of atrocities in this major Darfur city.

After an 18-month siege, the FSR took El-Fasher on Sunday, the last major city in Darfur (west) that was still outside their control and where testimonies and information about deadly violence against civilians are multiplying.

In an attempt to calm the situation, the head of the FSR, Mohamed Daglo, announced the opening of investigations into the actions of certain paramilitaries, before announcing arrests.

"In accordance with orders from the hierarchy and in compliance with the law, rules of engagement and wartime discipline, our forces have arrested several individuals (from our forces) accused of abuses committed during the liberation of El-Facher," the FSR said in a statement.

- Abuses on TikTok -

The paramilitaries stated that they had arrested a fighter nicknamed Abou Loulou who was seen executing unarmed people in several videos whose authenticity has been confirmed.

AFP identified Abou Loulou in videos from his TikTok account. In one, he opens fire on several people, and in another, he appears with armed men in front of dozens of corpses.

The FSR released a video showing Abu Loulou in what they say is a prison in Darfur, stating that he will be tried.

Since Sunday, numerous videos on social media show men dressed in FSR uniforms carrying out summary executions in El-Facher, with the paramilitaries claiming that several of these recordings were "fabricated" by army-linked websites.

Emtithal Mahmoud, a 32-year-old poet originally from this city and now living in the United States, indicated that she recognized her cousin's body in one of these sequences.

"In the video shared by her killers, the FSR, you can see her corpse on the ground. And you can hear one of the FSR saying: 'Get up if you can'. They are mocking her body and that is another form of torture," she testified.

- "Horrifying testimonies" -

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights is calling for "independent, rapid, transparent and thorough investigations" into all alleged violations of international law, its spokesman, Seif Magango, said on Friday.

The High Commissioner has received "horrifying accounts of summary executions, massacres, rapes, attacks on humanitarian workers, looting, abductions and forced displacements," he said.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has verified that at least 460 people were killed in a maternity hospital in El-Facher.

Between Sunday and Wednesday, more than 62,000 civilians fled the city, where tens of thousands of people are still trapped, according to the UN.

Humanitarian organizations fear ethnically motivated atrocities like those perpetrated in the early 2000s in Darfur by the Janjaweed Arab militias, from which the FSR originated.

The Humanitarian Research Lab at Yale University (HRL), which analyzes videos and satellite images, has concluded in recent days that there is "a systematic and intentional process of ethnic cleansing".

- Towards Kordofan -

After more than two years of war between soldiers and paramilitaries, General Burhane's army controls eastern and northern Sudan, including the cities of Port Sudan and Khartoum, while the FSR has seized control of all of Darfur since the capture of El-Facher.

The Kordofan region (south), located on the road between Darfur and Khartoum, remains the scene of fierce clashes.

The head of UN humanitarian operations, Tom Fletcher, expressed concern Thursday about the situation in the state where "fierce fighting" is causing "new waves of displacement".

Reports there indicate "large-scale atrocities" by the FSR in the town of Bara, recently taken by these paramilitaries, denounced Martha Ama Akyaa Pobee, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Africa.

According to the UN, the violence has displaced at least 35,000 people in Kordofan and caused around fifty deaths in recent days.

Talks aimed at a truce between the army and the FSR, led for several months by a group including the United States, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, have reached a deadlock, according to an official close to the negotiations.

The war in Sudan, which raises fears of the division of the country, already deprived of South Sudan in 2011, is taking place against a backdrop of regional rivalries.

The FSR received weapons and drones from the United Arab Emirates, according to UN reports, while the army benefits from support from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Turkey, according to observers. All deny any involvement.