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A nurse named Nawal Khalil had been serving as a nurse for three years at El Fasher South hospital when the city was seized last Sunday by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). She was busy treating patients, featuring one senior woman requiring a blood transfusion, as the assault commenced.

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

Khalil, aged 27, received a gunshot wound to her right foot and thigh as RSF fighters took control of the closeby army headquarters. She escaped from the city and walked for a day, hurt and lacking sustenance, to get to the settlement of Garney. “On the way, they seized my mobile and currency,” she explains. “I possessed nothing remaining.”

More than 1,000 people – comprising women and children – walked for two days to reach the town of Tawila within North Darfur after running from El Fasher, which was seized following an 18-month blockade.

This settlement, about 34 miles (55km) west of El Fasher, is governed by by the SLA faction under Abdul Wahid Mohamed al-Nur's leadership.

This past Tuesday, the collaborative Joint Forces – that cooperate with the Sudanese army – blamed the RSF of killing more than 2,000 civilians since the fall of the city. The UN said that visual evidence showed showing “dozens of unarmed men who were shot or found dead, with RSF militiamen around them.”

Contextual Information

Conflict erupted in Khartoum back on April 15, 2023 as a growing contest for power between the two main factions within the military government eventually resulted in fatalities.

Among the combatants are the Sudanese armed forces, that stay mostly faithful to Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the country’s de facto ruler. Challenging him are the paramilitaries of the RSF paramilitary group, a collection of militias that obey the former warlord Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, referred to as Hemedti.

The RSF was originally established by the ex-dictator Omar al-Bashir himself as an Arab anti-rebellion militia known as the Janjaweed, which quickly became synonymous with widespread atrocities. Back in 2013, Bashir converted the organization into the RSF, using them to quell a new uprising in South Darfur.

The fighting has thrown Sudan into among the most severe humanitarian crises in contemporary history, based on UN statements. It has produced the world’s worst displacement crisis, scattering more than 10 million people within the country plus 4 million who escaped into neighbouring countries, putting mounting pressure on both Chad and South Sudan.

Present Circumstances

According to witnesses, numerous more non-combatants remain trapped by the RSF and allied militias within Garney, south-west of El Fasher. Numerous are ex-military personnel belonging to the Sudanese military, the Joint Forces plus additional armed factions which had been combatting together with the army. They are apparently detained because they cannot afford ransom requests ranging from 5 to 10 million Sudanese pounds (around six to twelve thousand pounds), based on survivor accounts who arrived in Tawila. Those unable to pay have been held for multiple days, and in some cases freed only when falling seriously ill.

Reports suggest the SLA-AW has authorized army soldiers running from El Fasher to enter Tawila on condition they surrender their weapons.

The individual Adam Yagoub, aged 28, a driver from Sennar in central Sudan, closely avoided death subsequent to his seizure by three camel-riding militiamen in the Garney vicinity.

“They planned to decapitate me using a knife,” he tells, showing his arm, which one militant assaulted with the butt of an AK-47 rifle. “Afterward one remembered me – his sibling had collaborated with me – and urged them not to execute me. There were 18 of us who departed El Fasher collectively, however just eight arrived in Tawila. I believe the remainder perished.”

Yagoub reports he saw 22 bodies close to what he described as a fraudulent water source used by the RSF and allied militias between Garney and Tawila. “It’s a trap,” he comments. “Individuals travel all day lacking water, and when they get to it, the armed groups lie in wait. They slaughtered 22 men on that spot and removed the corpses to hide them.”

Another nurse who escaped El Fasher South hospital following Sunday's assault stated RSF combatants came in via one entrance and commenced firing upon patients within the emergency department, causing at least eight fatalities. “We escaped through a different gate, yet they assaulted my head with a rifle,” he recounts.

In a video statement on Wednesday, the head of the RSF, Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, referred to as Hemedti, stated that any military personnel or officer who had “violated the right of any person” would be held accountable.

Many of those who escaped from El Fasher passed hours hiding near the army’s artillery unit before running west during nighttime. Previously displaced households from the city’s Abu Shouk camp were forced to move again, taking asylum in the Daraja Oula district prior to ultimately traveling to Tawila.

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