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A nurse named Nawal Khalil had been working as a medical volunteer over a three-year period within the South El Fasher hospital when the city was captured on Sunday by the RSF fighters. She was busy treating patients, featuring one senior woman in need of a transfusion, when the attack began.

“They killed six wounded soldiers along with civilians in their beds – among them female victims,” she says. “I am unaware of the fate to my other patients. I needed to escape when they stormed the hospital.”

The 27-year-old Khalil, was shot in the right foot and her thigh during the RSF's seizure of the adjacent military command center. She escaped from the city and journeyed by foot for 24 hours, injured and without food, to get to the settlement of Garney. “During the journey, they confiscated my phone and cash,” she says. “I was left with nothing.”

Over a thousand individuals – including women and children – walked for two days to get to the settlement of Tawila within North Darfur after running from El Fasher, which fell under control following an 18-month blockade.

Tawila, approximately 34 miles westward away from El Fasher, is governed by of the Sudan Liberation Army faction led by Abdul Wahid Mohamed al-Nur (SLA-AW).

This past Tuesday, the Joint Forces – who are allied with Sudan’s army – blamed the RSF with murdering over 2,000 civilians following the urban center's takeover. The UN reported there were videos depicting dozens of weaponless men being shot or lying dead, with RSF militiamen around them.”

Contextual Information

Fighting broke out within Khartoum back on April 15, 2023 as an escalating power struggle between the two main factions within the military government eventually resulted in fatalities.

Among the combatants exist the official Sudanese army, which maintain general loyalty to Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the nation's actual leader. Challenging him are the paramilitaries belonging to the RSF, a gathering of armed factions that obey the former warlord Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, called Hemedti.

The RSF was originally established by the previous authoritarian leader Bashir's regime as an Arab counterinsurgency militia known as the Janjaweed, which quickly became synonymous with widespread atrocities. Back in 2013, Bashir converted the organization to become the RSF, deploying them to crush a fresh rebellion within South Darfur.

The fighting has thrown Sudan into a terrible humanitarian disaster in recent history”, as per UN representatives. It has generated the globe's most severe displacement emergency, forcing more than 10 million persons within the country along with 4 million refugees to adjacent nations, generating growing stress on Chad and South Sudan.

Present Circumstances

Per observer reports, numerous more non-combatants stay confined by RSF forces and partner militias within Garney, southwest from El Fasher. Many are former soldiers from Sudan's armed forces, the allied Joint Forces plus additional armed factions that were previously aligned with the military. Reports indicate they're imprisoned because they cannot afford ransom requests ranging from 5 to 10 million Sudanese pounds (£6,000 to £12,000), according to survivors who reached Tawila. Those unable to pay have been held for multiple days, and occasionally freed only when falling seriously ill.

Reports suggest the SLA-AW has authorized government troops fleeing El Fasher to access Tawila on condition they surrender their weapons.

Adam Yagoub, 28, a driver from Sennar within central Sudan, closely avoided death following his capture by three armed men mounted on camels close to Garney.

“They planned to decapitate me with a knife,” he recounts, displaying his arm, which one militant assaulted with the butt of an AK-47 rifle. “Then one of them recognised me – his sibling had collaborated with me – and pleaded with them to spare me. Our group contained 18 individuals who exited El Fasher as a group, 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 utilized by RSF forces and partner armed groups in the area connecting Garney and Tawila. “It’s a trap,” he comments. “People walk all day without water, and when they get to it, the militias are waiting. They killed 22 men there and removed the corpses to hide them.”

A different medical worker who escaped El Fasher South hospital after the attack on Sunday reported RSF militiamen penetrated using one doorway and began shooting at patients within the emergency department, causing at least eight fatalities. “We ran out via another entrance, but they hit me on the head using a rifle,” he states.

Through a video declaration last Wednesday, the head of the RSF, General Dagalo, called Hemedti, stated that any military personnel or official who breached the rights of any individual would face consequences.

Numerous individuals who fled from El Fasher passed hours hiding near the army’s artillery unit prior to escaping westward under darkness's protection. Previously displaced households originating from the urban Abu Shouk settlement were compelled to relocate again, finding shelter in Daraja Oula area before finally moving toward Tawila.

People apprehended by RSF forces in Garney were reportedly given {water mixed with flour|flour