slams

The social media star slams reports of her six-figure fee and reveals the wet, sleep-deprived reality of life in the jungle a year on from when she took part in I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!

For years, fans of ITV’s I’m A Celeb have speculated about the ‘astronomical’ fees commanded by the stars who brave the Australian bush. But according to former campmate GK Barry, also known as Grace Keeling, the reality of the pay packet is far less glamorous than the headlines suggest.

The social media sensation, who won over the nation during her stint in the jungle last year, has hit out at reports claiming she walked away with a massive fortune, branding the rumours “a load of s***.” Amidst the trials and tribulations of camp life, reports circulated that Grace had secured a fee of £150,000 for her appearance. However, the podcast host insists that figures reported in the press are vastly inflated.

“The Daily Mail like to release what we’re all being paid for it, it’s a load of s***,” she said in a TikTok video. To illustrate just how wide of the mark the rumours were, she joked that a fee of that magnitude would have fundamentally changed her behaviour in the trials.

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“They said I got £150,000,” she said. “If I got paid 150 [thousand] Great British pounds to go in that jungle, I wouldn’t have even screamed once during a trial. They always overdo it, we don’t get paid that much.”

Beyond the pay dispute, Grace was keen to dispel the long-standing conspiracy theory that the camp is a sound stage or that celebrities retreat to luxury hotels once the cameras stop rolling. She described the living conditions as genuinely miserable, particularly when the weather turns.

“The camp is covered but it’s covered by a flimsy bit of material that opens up and shuts so when it rains, you still get rained on,” she revealed. “Our camp got so flooded last year, everything was wet, our sleeping bags, the fire kept going out…”

She added: “Everyone thinks the jungle isn’t a real jungle, but the place is giving jungle. There are animals, you could not find your way through there easily, and we do stay there, we do sleep there… We don’t go off to the hotel at night, I wish we did.”

While they don’t get hotels, the celebrities do get one small mercy: they aren’t allowed to poison themselves. Grace revealed a behind-the-scenes secret about how the campmates manage to cook obscure jungle rations like eel without making themselves ill.

It involves a producer known as the “Voice of God” who speaks over a tannoy system.

“You cook it until you think it’s done,” she explained. “And if you go to take it off and it’s not done, the voice of God will be like, ‘that could probably do with 10 more minutes’. So you’re never at risk of eating something raw.”

Perhaps the most gruelling aspect of the show isn’t the creepy crawlies, but the schedule. Grace painted a picture of a routine designed to keep the stars exhausted.

The day begins when the hosts arrive live on air. “We hear Ant and Dec do I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here so we know it’s 7.30 in the morning,” she said.

However, the days are long. Dinner often doesn’t arrive until 8pm or 9pm, followed by washing up and mandatory diary room sessions.

“Before you’re allowed to go to bed, you all have to do your bush telegraph things,” she recalled. “So I genuinely think we were going to bed at midnight and up again at 6.30am.”

GK Barry placed fifth in the 2024 series, being the eight contestant eliminated from the jungle.

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JESSIE J has taken a leaf out of Jennifer Lopez’s book and taken aim at her Hollywood ex on her new music.

Earlier this year, J-Lo slammed Ben Affleck on track Wreckage of You after her marriage to the actor broke down.

Now Jessie has let rip at Channing Tatum, who she dated from 2018 to 2020, on her album Don’t Tease Me With A Good Time, which is out on Friday.

On the not-so-subtle track Threw It Away, Jessie brands a former flame a “beast”.

She sings: “I put my heart out on the table, that’s when it got uncomfortable. But oh that karma is gonna come one day, ’cause I gave you my love and you threw it away.”

She later adds: “Don’t you dare rewrite the story. I’m the beauty, you’re the beast.”

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‘I’m better person’

Taking to the stage at an exclusive listening party for the album in West London, Jessie did not mention the Magic Mike star by name.

But she left little doubt among fans who the track is about.

She said: “This next song I wrote in 2020 with Ryan Tedder, and you can figure out who I was dating.”

After taking time out over the summer to undergo treatment for breast cancer, Jessie is working at full pace.

Opening up about her health battle, Jessie said: “I’m grateful for the lessons and grateful for the connectivity it’s given me with so many people having cancer.

“And I’ve been a better parent, I’ve been a better person.”

KATIE Price broke her silence on her long-running feud with Kelly Brook as she ripped into their mutual ex Danny Cipriani.

Katie played down their bitter spat in the noughties as she turned on Danny and took a swipe at his manhood.

Katie, 47, heaped praised on I’m A Celeb star Kelly, 45 – after they traded digs in the past.

She said she’ll be supporting the Heart Radio presenter in the jungle and claimed on the latest episode of her podcast: “I love Kelly Brook.”

She added: “The only difference between us was she came from a dance background and wouldn’t get her t**s out.”

The glamour model – previously known as Jordan – also spoke out on their connection to rugby star Danny, 38.

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Katie said: “She was going out with Danny Cipriani, and I was going out with Danny Cipriani, and he was a player with a small willy, absolute k**b.”

Her podcast co-host and sister Sophie waded in with her own memory, saying: “I remember dad meeting him and thinking he was a k**b.”

Later in the pod, the sisters discussed reports that Kelly and Katie didn’t get along.

Sophie added: “Did you call her a heffer?”

Katie replied: “I can’t remember calling her a heffer.

“She’s always had a bigger figure than me. She’s a voluptuous figure – she’s stunning, beautiful.

“I am rooting for Kelly (in the jungle) from one glamour girl to another.”

Katie and Danny’s relationship happened a year after his split from Kelly in 2010.

Their romance was short-lived, ending when Katie claimed she discovered Danny in bed with another woman.

Kelly and Danny proved to be the more enduring as they dated for around two years between 2008 and 2010, though their time together was turbulent.

Both accused the other of cheating and Danny even alleged that when Kelly began dating his rugby teammate Thom Evans, she still secretly met up with him while on holiday.

Unsurprisingly, Danny became a key source of bitterness during the infamous clash between Kelly and Katie in 2013. 

At the time, Katie used her newspaper column to take a swipe at Kelly, labelling her a “heffer” and remarking on her size with backhanded compliments.

Katie wrote: “Kelly is a brilliant role model for young girls because of her curvy figure. 

“Every mum should make her daughter look at the recent set of pictures that show Kelly modelling her latest New Look range in Miami.

“They don’t appear to be airbrushed and I’m FLABbergasted to see how big Kelly really is.

“Rumour has it she’s been hanging out with our mutual ex Danny Cipriani. Knowing him, I guess she’s probably been doing a bit of comfort eating.

“You’re a heffer, Kelly, but still a hot one.”

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Her comments came amid rumours that Kelly was considering rekindling things with Danny. 

The following day, Kelly responded, insisting that such remarks were “unladylike.”

ADAM Peaty and Holly Ramsay have broken their silence on a bitter family feud, insisting “we don’t want sympathy”.

Tonight, the Olympian, 30, took to social media and accused his family of “encouraging” false claims about him and his fiancée.

Adam said his wife-to-be Holly, 25, and his sister Bethany had both been “targeted” and “hurt” by the drama, which now involves police.

It reads: “Over the past few days, a lot has been reported and comments posted about the private life of Holly and myself.

“My sister Bethany, has also been targeted. This has been almost entirely one-sided and, in many cases, excessive and intrusive. It has been deeply hurtful and upsetting to read, especially given the false basis upon which we have been targeted.

“What makes it worse is that it has been encouraged by members of my family.”

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The champion swimmer assured fans there were two sides to the story and insisted he only has good intentions.

It follows claims that he has changed since meeting Holly and becoming part of the Ramsay clan, distancing himself from his working class roots.

He continued: “Bethany, Holly and myself cannot go into detail given an ongoing police investigation into serious matters that arose long before recent events.

“For those who know me personally, you know that I work so hard on trying to improve myself as a person who wants to contribute to making the world a better place. I am continuing to learn about myself and how I can be the man I want to be; a worthy partner, father, businessman, friend and athlete; even through these challenging times.

“Bethany, Holly and I will get through this – we do not ask for sympathy. We just need people to be aware that there are always two sides to every story. To those of you who have reached out and shown kindness and understanding – thank you. It is deeply appreciated.”

Adam’s aunt Louise previously branded his fiancée Holly “divisive and hurtful” in a bitter online rant after her sister Caroline wasn’t invited to her hen do at Soho Farmhouse. Caroline was later banned from the couple’s wedding at Bath Abbey next month.

Bethany attended the hen party, as did Holly’s mum Tana Ramsay and close friend Victoria Beckham.

Taking to Instagram, Caroline praised her sister by sharing a quote which read: “The moment you realise: the little sister who once drove you crazy is now the one who keeps you sane.

“Your loudest supporter and forever best friend.”

It continued: “She eventually becomes the comfort zone which every elder sister secretly needed all along.”

Caroline added: “Louise I thank you from the bottom of my heart for being my protector through this difficult time x.

“To the people who are being so cruel to my sister, please stop. Sadly you obviously don’t understand the bond of sisters.

Worried Holly called the police last weekend while Adam was on his stag do in Budapest over concerns he could be assaulted by his brother James when he got back to the UK.

Adam was escorted by five police officers through passport control upon touching down in the UK. His brother was later arrested at his Staffordshire home.

A source close to Adam and Holly said: “This feud is heartbreaking from both sides.

“But the reality is that Adam sees his mum Caroline to be enabling his brother’s actions rather than pushing him to deal with his demons.

“Poor Caroline must feel utterly torn and it’s just very hard for everyone.

“Gordon has been incredibly supportive of Holly and Adam; after all, he’s been through similar issues with his own brother.”

Adam’s father Mark previously told The Sun that the feud had spiralled out of control.

He said: “They’re brothers.

“They’ve always been close but like any normal family, brothers fight, argue, fall out, make-up and start all over again. But it’s got out of hand.

“There’s been very little empathy towards Jamie’s genuine mental health difficulties.”

While Caroline, who supported Adam’s swimming career from a young boy to record breaker, has claimed she wants to repair the rift.

She told the Daily Mail: “I know it’s the end. But please, the message I want Adam to hear is no matter what happens in the future, please know I love you, your dad loves you, you can come home and talk to me at any point.

“There’s nothing you’ve done that I would not forgive. I love you so much.

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“I hope your marriage is a good one, I don’t wish any ill on you and I want you and Holly to have a long and happy marriage, like your dad and me. The reason I’m speaking out is I want all this to end.”

She added that she has reached rock bottom over the family feud, which has seen Adam pull closer to the Ramsays.

On his second day as chief of the Los Angeles Fire Department, Jaime Moore criticized what he called media efforts to “smear” firefighters who responded to the worst wildfire in city history.

Moore’s comments Tuesday appeared to be in reference to a Times report that a battalion chief ordered firefighters to roll up their hoses and leave the burn area of the Jan. 1 Lachman fire, which days later reignited into the deadly Palisades fire, even though they had complained that the ground was still smoldering.

The Times reviewed text messages between firefighters and a third party, sent in the weeks and months after the Palisades fire, indicating that crews had expressed concerns that the Lachman fire would reignite if left unprotected.

“The audacity for people to make comments and say that there’s text messages out there that say that we did not put the fire out, that we did not extinguish the fire,” Moore told the Board of Fire Commissioners. “Yet I have yet to see any of those text messages.”

Moore’s statements represented a dramatic shift from his comments last week, when he told the L.A. City Council’s public safety committee — two days before the full council approved his appointment as chief — that the reports had generated an “understandable mistrust” of the fire department.

“The most alarming thing to me is … our members were not listened to, or they were not heard,” he said last Wednesday.

In response to Mayor Karen Bass’ request that he investigate the department’s missteps during the Lachman fire, Moore had called for an outside organization to conduct the probe.

On Tuesday, he said he would review LAFD’s response to the Lachman fire, though he did not specify who would conduct the investigation.

“I will do as Mayor Bass asked, and I will look into the Lachman fire, and we will look at how that was handled, and we will learn from it, and we’ll be better from it,” he said.

In one text message reviewed by The Times, a firefighter who was at the Lachman scene Jan. 2 wrote that the battalion chief in charge had been told it was a “bad idea” to leave because of visible signs of smoldering terrain.

A second firefighter was told that tree stumps were still hot at the location when the crew packed up and left, according to the texts. And another firefighter said in more recent texts that crew members were upset when directed to leave the scene, but that they could not ignore orders.

The firefighters’ accounts line up with a video recorded by a hiker above Skull Rock Trailhead late in the morning Jan. 2 — almost 36 hours after the Lachman fire started — that shows smoke rising from the dirt. “It’s still smoldering,” the hiker says from behind the camera.

At least one battalion chief assigned to LAFD’s risk management section knew about the complaints for months, The Times found. But the department did not include that finding, or any detailed examination of the reignition, in its after-action report on the Jan. 7 Palisades fire — or otherwise make the information public — despite victims demanding answers for months about how the blaze started and whether more could have been done to prevent it.

Moore, a 30-year LAFD veteran, told the City Council on Friday that one of his top priorities is raising morale in a department that has come under heavy criticism for its handling of the Palisades fire, which killed 12 people and destroyed thousands of homes.

In January, The Times reported that LAFD officials decided not to pre-deploy any engines or firefighters to the Palisades — as they had done in the past — despite being warned that some of the most dangerous winds in recent years were headed for the region.

The LAFD after-action report released last month described fire officials’ chaotic response, which was plagued by major staffing and communication issues, as the massive blaze overwhelmed them.

After Bass ousted Fire Chief Kristin Crowley over her handling of the Palisades fire, the department was led by interim Chief Ronnie Villanueva until Moore took over Monday.

Genethia Hudley Hayes, president of the Board of Fire Commissioners, which provides civilian oversight for the fire department, said at Tuesday’s meeting that she had not seen the text messages quoted in The Times. Because she hadn’t seen them, she said, the messages have “no bearing on the work of the fire commission.”

She also said that the commission supported the fire department’s after-action report, noting that that the report was not about the rekindling of the Lachman fire, but about the first 72 hours of the department’s response to the Palisades fire.

“It has nothing to do and should not have had anything to do with the Lachman fire, because that is not what we asked for,” Hudley Hayes said.

Klay Thompson didn’t hold back after a former NBA player used a graphic term in reference to the Dallas Mavericks star’s girlfriend, rapper Megan Thee Stallion, on a podcast this week.

Former NBA champion Jason Williams was discussing Thompson’s shooting struggles this season with his “Hoopin’ N Hollerin’” co-hosts, fellow ex-NBA player Patrick Beverley and Barstool Sports personality Rone.

Thompson, who won four NBA titles with the Golden State Warriors, is 35 and playing in his 13th NBA season, not counting the two-plus seasons he missed from 2019-2021 while recovering from tears to the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee and his right Achilles tendon.

Nonetheless, Thompson’s relationship with the Grammy-winning hip-hop star was mentioned as a possible explanation for his career-low statistics (8.5 points per game, 32% shooting) after 11 games this season. The couple went public with their relationship during the offseason, and the “Not My Fault” singer has been seen in attendance at multiple Mavericks games since then.

Williams used an extremely explicit term for a female body part to make his point.

“I’m from West Virginia, man. I’ve been taught a lot by some old folks, old white folks. They say p—’s powerful,” Williams said. “They say it’s so powerful … it only takes one … to drag a battleship across a desert, that’s how powerful it is.

“Klay Thompson — I ain’t saying that’s what it is, but that might be what it is. That ain’t taking nothing away from Megan Thee Stallion. She might be a great girl, great for him. But I don’t know if she’s great for the shot.”

A video clip of the discussion — that added a graphic that featured a photo of Thompson and Megan Thee Stallion together and the caption “What’s going on with Klay Thompson?” — was posted to the podcast’s Instagram account. Thompson called out the show’s hosts in the post’s comment section.

“Referring to my GF as a ‘p—’ is so disgusting and disturbing,” Thompson wrote. “Especially from someone who played in the NBA . How would yall feel if I referred to your wives in such a way ? …

“Do better fellas. Very disappointing”

KIM Kardashian refuses to throw in the book as she returns to studying, after fuming that psychics incorrectly predicted she would pass her exam to qualify as a lawyer.

The billionaire entrepreneur and reality star, 45, posing in a bikini while revising with a textbook, failed her California bar exam after six years of studying.

In a TikTok video, she ranted to her famous family that their clairvoyants were “liars.”

She said: “I’m just letting you guys know that all of the f***ing psychics that we have met with, and that we’re obsessed with, are all f***ing full of s**t.

“They all collectively, maybe four of them, have told me I was going to pass the bar so they’re all full pathological liars. Don’t believe anything they say.”

It comes after her Disney+ drama All’s Fair, about a group of female lawyers, was critically panned and received a four percent rating on review-aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes.

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However, The U.S. Sun revealed how this took a drastic turn late Tuesday night heading into Wednesday, when reviews labeling the show the “worst of all time” began going viral.

“The show had a disappointing opening in the first 24 hours. 

“It wasn’t getting as much attention leading up because the media review embargoes weren’t allowed to go up until after the show had already dropped,” the source explained. 

“So all the 0% reviews came out at once, after the episode was already out, and helped draw droves of attention to it. 

“The reaction to all the bad reviews was the best thing that could’ve happened to the show. It basically, right away, doubled overall episode engagement. 

“Including viewership but also the amount of online mentions and social media activity.”

The insider added that producers are taking the critique well, as they know the show is meant to be “campy and fun” and is “not meant to be serious.” 

“No one likes their work being dunked on, but the show welcomes the chatter because it’s driving interest and the viewership is benefiting exponentially,” they added. 

Kim stars on the legal drama as a divorce attorney at an all-female law firm.

In addition to The Kardashians star, the series also includes Naomi Watts, Niecy Nash, Sarah Paulson, and Glenn Close.

A California district attorney reposted on social media 9/11 images along with comments blasting the election of Zohran Mamdani as New York City’s first Muslim mayor. Despite the gory images and strong denunciation of Mamdani, Dan Dow insists that he has no issues with the Muslim community in San Luis Obispo County, where he is the top prosecutor.

He has “strong ties” with the community, Dow said in an emailed statement Thursday to The Times.

But his posts have drawn backlash, and a Muslim advocacy organization is demanding an apology and an investigation.

On Wednesday, Dow retweeted a post on X from a popular right-wing account that appeared to show a snapshot moments after flames jutted from the South Tower, the second of the twin towers struck by a plane on Sept. 11, 2001.

A second visual tweet, more graphic than the first, displayed footage from two angles of a plane barreling into one of the towers. That was posted by the leader of an activist organization, described as a hate group by some, that claims to “combat the threats from Islamic supremacists, radical leftists and their allies.”

Each was posted in the aftermath of the New York City mayoral election won by 34-year-old, self-described democratic socialist Mamdani.

The posts were retweeted and subtweeted days later and 3,000 miles away by Dow, drawing rebuke from some locals, in a story first broken by the San Luis Obispo Tribune.

Dow responded to a Times email for comment saying his issue was not with the county’s Muslim population, which numbers around 500, according to the Assn. of Religion Data Archives.

“I shared the posts because, in my opinion, Mamdani is going to destroy New York being a self-proclaimed socialist,” Dow responded. “I support the Muslim community and have strong ties to our Muslim community in San Luis Obispo.”

The first post Dow retweeted came from the account @EndWokeness, which vows to its nearly 4 million followers that it’s “fighting, exposing, and mocking wokeness.”

The second post came from Amy Mekelburg, founder of Rise, Align, Ignite and Reclaim (RAIR) Foundation, which is listed as a hate organization by the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

The council’s Los Angeles office demanded Thursday evening that Dow apologize and “retract his recent anti-Muslim social media posts.” CAIR-LA is also asking for an independent investigation into Dow’s conduct and “his fitness to continue to serve as DA.”

The organization is incensed at his retweeting of Mekelburg, whom they describe as “a known anti-Muslim extremist.”

Mekelburg wrote a sizable message on the video post, saying she’d “given my entire self” to warn the world “about the threat of Islam after 9/11.”

“And now … to see New York — my city — stand in this moment, where someone like Zohran Mamdani could even be elected,” she wrote. “My God, New York, what have you done?”

CAIR-LA said that Mekelburg “falsely equated the election of Mamdani with 9/11, reinforcing the harmful stereotype that Muslims are inherently tied to terrorism simply because of their faith.”

Dow subtweeted that specific post with a message that began by highlighting his 32 years of service in the U.S. Army and his four tours overseas.

“I remember like it was yesterday our nation being attacked by Islamic extremists on 9/11/2001,” he wrote. “I love this country and I do not in any way share the same views as the 33-year-old socialist Zohran Mamdani.”

He added in the tweet: “I am very sad to see the Big Apple torn apart by electing an un-American socialist who wants to trample on the values and freedoms that millions of Americans have fought and died for.”

“Dow’s decision to repost content that weaponizes bigotry and baselessly ties an elected Muslim official to terrorism is appalling and reflects the deeply rooted dehumanization and fearmongering in this country that American Muslims have had to endure for decades,” CAIR-LA Executive Director Hussam Ayloush said in a statement.

Dow’s posts also struck a nerve with one of his Muslim allies in San Luis Obispo, Dr. Rushdi Cader, who referred to the district attorney as “a personal friend” to the San Luis Obispo Tribune.

Cader told the Tribune the posts were “highly incendiary and puts Muslims at risk for harm, especially hijab-wearing Muslim women like my wife Nisha, whom Dan has himself described as ‘a kind and gentle lady’ who he ‘prayed would be blessed with peace.’”

Cader added he thought Dow’s “ugly post” was borne “out of disagreement with Mamdani’s politics” rather than any direct attack on Islam.”

Dow’s tweets drew other rebukes.

San Luis Obispo County Second District Supervisor Bruce Gibson called Dow a “Christian nationalist.”

He “occupies a powerful public office that requires decency and discipline,” Gibson said of Dow. “This post is yet another example that he has neither.”

San Luis Obispo Mayor Erica Stewart emailed The Times to say that the city was welcoming to all community members.

“Dan Dow, as the county’s District Attorney, by definition, should be objective and fair,” she wrote. “For someone in his position to express racism is unacceptable.”

Dow had his defenders too.

Orange County Dist. Atty. Todd Spitzer serves with Dow on the California District Attorneys Assn. Spitzer is the organization’s secretary-treasurer while Dow is the president.

Spitzer found no fault with Dow’s social media posts.

“Elected officials have a platform to share their views and be judged by their constituents,” he wrote in an email. “It is heartbreaking to see someone who has expressed such anti-public safety and anti-Semitic sentiments elected as mayor of New York, and we as the elected protectors of public safety have a right to express that.”

SEOUL, Nov. 6 (Yonhap) — North Korea on Thursday denounced the latest U.S. sanctions on Pyongyang as a demonstration of Washington’s hostile policy, vowing to take proper measures to counter it with patience.

The North’s reaction came as the U.S. announced Tuesday that it had imposed sanctions on eight North Korean individuals and two entities for their involvement in laundering money stolen through illicit cyber activities.

The sanctions came even as U.S. President Donald Trump has expressed his wish to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to resume stalled diplomacy with Pyongyang.

Kim Un-chol, North Korea’s vice foreign minister in charge of U.S. affairs, said in a statement that by imposing fresh sanctions, the U.S. has showed its “invariable hostile” intents toward North Korea in an “accustomed and traditional way,” according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

“Now that the present U.S. administration has clarified its stand to be hostile towards the DPRK to the last, we will also take proper measures to counter it with patience for any length of time,” the statement showed.

Denouncing the U.S. for revealing its “wicked nature,” the North’s official warned Washington should not expect its tactics of pressure, appeasement, threat and blackmail against North Korea will work.

“The U.S. sanctions will have no effect on the DPRK’s thinking and viewpoint on it in the future, too, as in the past,” Kim said, using the acronym of North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

In regard to North Korea’s statement, South Korea’s unification ministry assessed the North appears to have responded to the imposition of U.S. sanctions in a “restrained” manner.

The U.S. move came as North Korea has not responded to Trump’s proposal to meet with the North’s leader during his latest trip to South Korea on the occasion of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) gathering.

Earlier this week the U.S. State Department also raised the need to seek U.N. sanctions on seven ships accused of illegally exporting North Korean coal and iron ore to China in violation of U.N. Security Council sanctions over the North’s nuclear and missile programs.

South Korea’s spy agency said this week there were signs that North Korea had been preparing for a possible meeting with the U.S. in time for last week’s APEC gathering.

The National Intelligence Service said there is a high possibility that the North and the U.S. would hold a summit some time after an annual joint military exercise between South Korea and the U.S. in March next year.

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A senior Sudanese diplomat has accused the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of committing war crimes in the country’s North Darfur state, as survivors who escaped the city of el-Fasher recounted mass killings and sexual assault by the paramilitary troops.

Sudan’s ambassador to Egypt, Imadeldin Mustafa Adawi, made the allegations on Sunday as he accused the United Arab Emirates (UAE) of helping the RSF paramilitary group in the ongoing civil war.

The Gulf state denies the claim.

Adawi’s remarks followed an earlier statement by Sudanese Prime Minister Kamil Idris, who told the Swiss newspaper Blick that the RSF should be tried in the international courts.

But Kamil rejected the “illegal” idea of foreign troops being deployed to his country, which has been ravaged by a civil war between the RSF and the Sudanese army since April 2023.

The calls for action come a week after the RSF seized the capital of North Darfur, el-Fasher, after an 18-month siege and starvation campaign, resulting in thousands of reported civilian deaths. The city was the Sudanese army’s last stronghold in the region.

In the days since its capture, survivors have reported mass executions, pillaging, rape and other atrocities, sparking an international outcry.

The Sudanese government said that at least 2,000 people were killed, but witnesses said the real number could be much higher.

Tens of thousands of civilians are still believed to be trapped in the city.

“The government of Sudan is calling on the international community to act immediately and effectively rather than just make statements of condemnation,” Adawi told reporters during a news conference in the Egyptian capital, Cairo.

The envoy urged the world to designate the RSF as a “terrorist” organisation, as well as condemn RSF “for committing massacres amounting to genocide” and denounce “its official regional financier and supporter, the United Arab Emirates”.

He also said that Sudan would not take part in talks led by Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United States and the UAE to end the conflict if the latter remains part of the negotiations.

“We do not consider them [the UAE] as a mediator and someone reliable on the issue,” Adawi stressed.

Mass killings, sexual assault

The UAE, however, denies allegations that it is supplying the RSF with weapons.

At a forum in Bahrain’s capital, Manama, an Emirati presidential adviser said that the Gulf state wants to help end the war, and acknowledged that regional and international powers could have done more to prevent the conflict in Sudan.

“We all made the mistake, when the two generals who are fighting the civil war today overthrow the civilian government. That was, in my opinion, looking back, a critical mistake,” Anwar Gargash said.

Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and the US, as mediators, have all condemned the mass killings and called for increased humanitarian assistance.

As the world’s worst humanitarian crisis further spirals into chaos, residents who managed to escape el-Fasher recalled their harrowing experience.

Adam Yahya, who fled with four of his children, told Al Jazeera that his wife was killed in an RSF drone strike shortly before el-Fasher fell. He said that he and his children barely had time to mourn before they found themselves on the run from the paramilitary group.

“The streets were full of dead people. We made it to one of the sand barriers set up by the RSF. They were shooting at people, men, women and children, with machineguns. I heard one saying, ‘Kill them all, leave no one alive’,” Yahya recounted.

“We ran back and hid. At night, I slowly crept out with my children and crossed the barrier. We walked to a village, where someone took pity on us and gave us a ride to the camp here.”

Another 45-year-old woman in the displacement camp of Al Dabbah in Sudan’s Northern State told Al Jazeera that RSF fighters sexually assaulted her.

The woman, who only gave her first name, Rasha, said she left her daughters at home when the RSF seized the army headquarters on Sunday and went to look for her sons.

“The RSF asked me where I was going, and I told them I’m looking for my sons. They forced me into a house and started sexually assaulting me. I told them I’m old enough to be their mother. I cried,” she said.

“They then let me go, and I took my daughters and fled, leaving my sons behind. I don’t know where they are now,” she said.

“We just fled and ran past dead bodies till we crossed the barrier and reached a small village outside el-Fasher,” she added.

Aid agencies, meanwhile, said that thousands of people are unaccounted for after fleeing el-Fasher.

Caroline Bouvard, the Sudan country director for Solidarites International, said that only a few hundred more people have turned up in Tawila, the closest town to el-Fasher, in the past few days.

“Those are very small numbers considering the number of people who were stuck in el-Fasher. We keep hearing feedback that people are stuck on the roads and in different villages that are unfortunately still inaccessible due to security reasons,” she said.

Bouvard said there is a “complete blackout” in terms of information coming out of el-Fasher after the RSF takeover, and that aid agencies are getting their information from surrounding areas, where up to 15,000 people are believed to be stuck.

“There’s a strong request for advocacy with the different parties to ensure that humanitarian aid can reach these people or that, at least, we can send in trucks to bring them back to Tawila,” she added.