BBC : No-one lives in the ghostly outskirts of el-Geneina any more. But its empty buildings still stand to tell their shocking stories, loudly and clearly.

Charred homes and shops are peppered with bullet holes. Doors are wrecked. Metal shutters are smashed. Rusting Sudanese army tanks dot the streets. In this rare trip for international journalists into Darfur, we could still smell the fires which blazed here last year.

“It was utterly chilling to drive through these smoked-out ruins and ghost towns,” reflected the UN’s new relief chief Tom Fletcher, whose visit to this hardscrabble capital of West Darfur marked the first time a senior UN official was able to visit this territory since Sudan’s vicious war erupted 19 months ago.

“Darfur has seen the worst of the worst,” is how Mr Fletcher, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, described its calamity. “It’s facing this crisis of protection, including an epidemic of sexual violence, as well as the spectre of famine.”

His short but significant visit only became possible after extensive negotiations with Sudan’s two main rival forces – those headed by Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, head of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), who heads the government recognised by the UN, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, who are now in charge in most of Darfur.

UN officials refer to the RSF as “those in control of the area”.