The United Nations warned on Friday of a surge in rights abuses in Sudan's West Darfur region amid the ongoing conflict between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) cited reports that more than 800 people had been killed in recent days by armed groups in Ardamata, near West Darfur's capital of El Geneina. A few days ago, the RSF announced that they had captured the city.

"We have received these reports from new arrivals in Chad, these are refugees fleeing the Darfur area, that are talking about armed militia going from house to house killing men and boys," UNHCR spokesperson William Spindler told reporters in Geneva.

The UN agency also said that nearly 100 shelters had been razed to the ground at a camp for internally displaced people in Ardamata. It added that "extensive looting" had taken place, including of UNHCR-supplied aid.

Thousands of Sudanese flee to Chad

The refugee agency said it was alarmed by reports of continued sexual violence, torture, arbitrary killings, extortion of civilians and the targeting of specific ethnic groups in the region.

It also highlighted reports that thousands of people who had already been displaced had been forced to flee from a camp in El Geneina.

UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi recalled the dark history in the region, where a long war and atrocities erupted two decades ago after the government of Omar al-Bashir unleashed the Janjaweed militia in response to a rebel uprising.

"We fear a similar dynamic might be developing," he warned.

The agency said it was preparing for a new flood of refugees from the region into Chad, which already hosts hundreds of thousands of displaced people

"More than 8,000 people have fled to neighboring Chad in the last week alone," the UNHCR said, adding that the figure was likely to be an underestimate due to difficulties in registering new arrivals.

Civil war in Sudan continues

Since April, forces loyal to army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, Sudan's de facto head of state, have been at war with the paramilitary RSF, commanded by his former deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.

More than 10,000 people have been killed in the Sudanese conflict so far, according to a conservative estimate by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data project.

The war has displaced more than 4.8 million people within Sudan and forced another 1.2 million to flee to neighboring countries, according to the UN.

dh/nm (AFP, dpa)