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A nurse named Nawal Khalil had been working as a healthcare worker for the past three years in the El Fasher South medical facility when the city was captured on Sunday by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). She was occupied with patient care, including an elderly woman in need of a transfusion, as the assault commenced.

“They killed six wounded soldiers plus civilian patients in their beds – including some women,” she says. “The outcome remains unknown for my remaining patients. I was forced to flee after they raided the medical facility.”

Khalil, aged 27, was hit by a bullet in her right foot and upper leg as RSF fighters took control of the nearby military headquarters. She escaped from the city and journeyed by foot for 24 hours, hurt and lacking sustenance, to reach the town of Garney. “During the journey, they took my phone and money,” she describes. “I was left with nothing.”

More than 1,000 people – comprising women and children – traveled on foot for two days to reach the town of Tawila within North Darfur after fleeing El Fasher, which was captured after a year-and-a-half-long siege.

The town of Tawila, around 55 kilometers to the west from El Fasher, is governed by of the SLA-AW group commanded by Abdul Wahid Mohamed al-Nur.

On Tuesday, the allied Joint Forces – that cooperate with the Sudanese army – charged the RSF of killing more than 2,000 civilians since the fall of the city. The UN said that visual evidence showed featuring numerous unarmed males being shot or lying dead, encircled by RSF combatants.”

Historical Background

Fighting broke out in Sudan's capital back on April 15, 2023 as a growing contest for power between the two main factions within the military government finally turned deadly.

Among the combatants are the Sudanese armed forces, which maintain general loyalty to Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the country’s de facto ruler. Opposing him are the paramilitaries belonging to the RSF, a gathering of armed factions which support the ex-warlord General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, called Hemedti.

The RSF was initially founded by the former dictatorial ruler Omar al-Bashir himself as a pro-Arab counterinsurgency force known as the Janjaweed, which soon became linked with extensive brutalities. Back in 2013, Bashir transformed the group into the Rapid Support Forces, sending them to suppress a new uprising in South Darfur.

The fighting has thrown Sudan into among the most severe humanitarian crises in recent history”, according to UN officials. It has produced the world’s worst displacement crisis, dispersing over 10 million individuals inside the nation along with 4 million refugees to bordering states, creating increasing strain on Chad and South Sudan.

Ongoing Developments

Per observer reports, thousands more civilians remain trapped by the RSF and partner militias in the Garney area, in the southwestern direction from El Fasher. Many are former soldiers from Sudan's armed forces, the allied Joint Forces and other militant organizations which had been combatting together with the army. Reports indicate they're imprisoned as they lack funds for extortion payments between five and ten million Sudanese pounds (approximately £6,000-£12,000), based on survivor accounts who arrived in Tawila. Individuals incapable of paying remain imprisoned for several days, and sometimes freed only when becoming gravely ill.

The SLA-AW has reportedly allowed army soldiers running from El Fasher to access Tawila on condition they surrender their weapons.

A man named Adam Yagoub, 28, a driver from Sennar within central Sudan, barely avoided execution subsequent to his seizure by three militiamen on camels in the Garney vicinity.

“They planned to decapitate me with a blade,” he informs, showing his arm, that one combatant struck with the butt of an AK-47 rifle. “Afterward one remembered me – his brother had worked with me – and urged them not to execute me. There were 18 of us who left El Fasher together, however just eight arrived in Tawila. I believe the remainder perished.”

Yagoub says he saw 22 bodies close to what he described as a “fake well” utilized by RSF forces and allied militias in the area connecting Garney and Tawila. “It’s a trap,” he comments. “Persons journey daily without hydration, and when they get to it, the armed groups lie in wait. They murdered 22 males at that location and carried the bodies off to hide them.”

A different medical worker who fled the El Fasher South medical facility following Sunday's assault reported RSF militiamen penetrated using one doorway and opened fire on patients in the ER section, killing at least eight. “We escaped through a different gate, but they hit me on the head using a rifle,” he states.

Via a recorded message this past Wednesday, the leader of the RSF, Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, referred to as Hemedti, stated that any military personnel or commander who infringed upon the rights of any person” would be held accountable.

Many of those who escaped El Fasher utilized hours hiding near the army’s artillery unit prior to escaping westward under darkness's protection. Families already uprooted from Abu Shouk camp in the city were compelled to relocate again, finding shelter in Daraja Oula area prior to ultimately traveling to Tawila.

Individuals seized by the RSF in Garney were apparently provided {water mixed with flour|flour