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A nurse named Nawal Khalil had been serving as a healthcare worker for three years within the South El Fasher hospital after the city fell seized last Sunday by RSF paramilitaries. She was occupied with patient care, featuring one senior woman requiring a blood transfusion, as the assault commenced.

“They murdered six wounded military personnel along with civilians in their beds – some of them women,” she says. “The outcome remains unknown regarding my other patients. I was forced to flee as they invaded the hospital.”

Khalil, 27, was shot in the right foot and her thigh while RSF combatants gained control of the nearby military headquarters. She ran from the urban area and traveled on foot for one day, wounded and without nourishment, to reach the town of Garney. “During the journey, they confiscated my phone and money,” she says. “I possessed nothing remaining.”

In excess of 1,000 persons – comprising women and children – traveled on foot for two days to arrive at Tawila town in North Darfur after running from El Fasher, which fell under control after a year-and-a-half-long siege.

Tawila, around 55 kilometers to the west away from El Fasher, remains under the authority by the SLA faction led by Abdul Wahid Mohamed al-Nur (SLA-AW).

Last Tuesday, the Joint Forces – who are allied with Sudan’s army – accused the RSF of killing more than 2,000 civilians after the city's capture. The UN said there were videos showing “dozens of unarmed men who were shot or found dead, surrounded by RSF fighters.”

Historical Background

Conflict erupted within Khartoum on 15 April 2023 as a growing contest for power involving the two key groups of the armed forces leadership eventually resulted in fatalities.

From one perspective are the Sudanese armed forces, which maintain general loyalty to General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the nation's actual leader. Opposing him stand the paramilitary forces of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), an assembly of militia groups who follow the former warlord General Dagalo, called Hemedti.

The Rapid Support Forces were first created by the ex-dictator Bashir's regime as an Arab anti-rebellion militia known as the Janjaweed, which soon became linked with extensive brutalities. Back in 2013, Bashir converted the organization into the RSF, using them to quell a recent insurrection in southern Darfur.

The conflict has plunged Sudan into a terrible humanitarian disaster in modern times, according to UN officials. It has created the world’s worst displacement crisis, scattering more than 10 million people within the country and 4 million who have fled to bordering states, generating growing stress on Chad and South Sudan.

Present Circumstances

Based on eyewitness accounts, many additional civilians stay confined by RSF forces and allied militias within Garney, south-west of El Fasher. Numerous are ex-military personnel belonging to the Sudanese military, the collaborative forces and other militant organizations which had been combatting together with the army. They are apparently detained since they cannot pay ransom demands ranging from 5 to 10 million Sudanese pounds (approximately £6,000-£12,000), according to survivors who arrived in Tawila. Those unable to pay have been held for multiple days, and sometimes let go solely after becoming gravely ill.

The SLA-AW has apparently permitted army soldiers running from El Fasher to enter Tawila provided they give up their weapons.

A man named Adam Yagoub, twenty-eight years old, a driver from Sennar from central Sudanese regions, closely avoided death following his capture by three camel-riding militiamen near Garney.

“They planned to decapitate me using a knife,” he informs, showing his arm, which one militant assaulted with the stock of a Kalashnikov. “Then one of them recognised me – his brother had worked with me – and urged them not to execute me. Our group contained 18 individuals who exited El Fasher as a group, however just eight arrived in Tawila. I believe the remainder perished.”

Yagoub states he witnessed 22 deceased individuals in proximity to what he termed a deceptive well used by the RSF and partner armed groups along the Garney-Tawila route. “It represents a trap,” he comments. “Individuals travel all day lacking water, and upon arriving there, the armed groups lie in wait. They murdered 22 males at that location and took the bodies away to hide them.”

Another nurse who fled the El Fasher South medical facility subsequent to Sunday's offensive reported RSF militiamen penetrated using one doorway and began shooting at patients in the emergency ward, causing at least eight fatalities. “We fled through another gate, yet they assaulted my head using a rifle,” he says.

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

Many of those who escaped El Fasher utilized hours taking cover close to army artillery positions prior to escaping westward under cover of darkness. Already displaced families from Abu Shouk camp in the city were forced to move again, seeking refuge in the Daraja Oula neighbourhood prior to ultimately traveling to Tawila.

Those captured by the RSF in Garney were apparently provided {water mixed with flour|flour