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Nawal Khalil had been serving as a healthcare worker for three years in the El Fasher South medical facility after the city fell seized last Sunday by RSF paramilitaries. She was occupied with patient care, including an elderly woman in need of a transfusion, as the assault commenced.

“They murdered six wounded military personnel and civilians in their beds – including some women,” she states. “The outcome remains unknown to my other patients. I had to run when they stormed the hospital.”

Khalil, aged 27, was shot in the right foot and upper leg during the RSF's seizure of the closeby army headquarters. She escaped from the city and journeyed by foot for 24 hours, injured and without food, to reach the town of Garney. “Along the route, they seized my mobile and cash,” she says. “I possessed nothing remaining.”

Over a thousand individuals – comprising women and children – journeyed by walking for 48 hours to arrive at Tawila town located in northern Darfur after running from El Fasher, which was seized after a year-and-a-half-long siege.

This settlement, around 55 kilometers to the west of El Fasher, remains under the authority of the Sudan Liberation Army faction commanded by Abdul Wahid Mohamed al-Nur.

Last Tuesday, the allied Joint Forces – which partner with Sudan's military – accused the RSF with murdering over 2,000 civilians since the fall of the city. United Nations officials stated there were videos showing “dozens of unarmed men who were shot or found dead, surrounded by RSF fighters.”

Historical Background

Hostilities commenced in Sudan's capital during April of 2023 when an intensifying power struggle involving the two key groups of the armed forces leadership finally turned deadly.

On one side exist the official Sudanese army, who remain broadly loyal to Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the nation's actual leader. Opposing him stand the paramilitary forces belonging to the RSF, an assembly of militia groups that obey the former warlord General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, referred to as Hemedti.

The RSF was initially founded by the former dictatorial ruler Bashir's regime as an Arab counterinsurgency militia known as the Janjaweed, which soon became linked with extensive brutalities. In 2013, Bashir converted the organization into the RSF, deploying them to crush a recent insurrection in southern Darfur.

The conflict has plunged Sudan into among the most severe humanitarian crises in contemporary history, according to UN officials. It has generated the globe's most severe displacement emergency, dispersing over 10 million individuals within the country along with 4 million refugees to adjacent nations, putting mounting pressure on Chad and South Sudan.

Ongoing Developments

According to witnesses, many additional civilians stay confined by RSF forces and partner militias in Garney, southwest from El Fasher. Several are previous army members belonging to the Sudanese military, the allied Joint Forces plus additional armed factions which had been combatting together with the army. They are apparently detained since they cannot pay extortion payments ranging from 5 to 10 million Sudanese pounds (£6,000 to £12,000), based on survivor accounts who arrived in Tawila. People who cannot afford payment have been held for multiple days, and occasionally let go solely after developing critical health conditions.

The SLA-AW has apparently permitted military personnel escaping El Fasher to come into Tawila provided they give up their weapons.

Adam Yagoub, aged 28, a motorist originating from Sennar in central Sudan, barely avoided execution subsequent to his seizure by three armed men mounted on camels near Garney.

“They wanted to cut my head off using a knife,” he informs, displaying his arm, that one combatant struck using an AK-47 rifle butt. “Subsequently one identified me – his sibling had collaborated with me – and begged them not to kill me. We were 18 people who left El Fasher together, but only eight made it to Tawila. I assume the others died.”

Yagoub states he witnessed 22 deceased individuals close to what he described as a deceptive well employed by the RSF and associated militias in the area connecting Garney and Tawila. “This is an ambush,” he says. “People walk all day without water, and upon arriving there, the militiamen await. They murdered 22 males at that location and took the bodies away to obscure them.”

Another nurse who fled the El Fasher South medical facility following Sunday's assault reported RSF militiamen penetrated via one entrance and began shooting at patients within the emergency department, causing at least eight fatalities. “We ran out via another entrance, yet they assaulted my head with a rifle,” he recounts.

In a video statement last Wednesday, the head of the RSF, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, called Hemedti, declared that any fighter or commander who infringed upon the rights of any civilian would be punished.

Several people who got away from El Fasher passed hours concealing themselves near military artillery before running west during nighttime. Already displaced families from the city’s Abu Shouk camp were compelled to relocate again, finding shelter in Daraja Oula area prior to ultimately traveling to Tawila.

People apprehended by RSF forces in Garney were apparently provided {water mixed with flour|flour