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Nawal Khalil had been serving as a nurse for three years within the South El Fasher hospital as the city became taken over on Sunday by the RSF fighters. She was actively caring for the sick, featuring one senior woman who needed a blood transfusion, when the attack began.

“They murdered six wounded military personnel along with civilians in their beds – including some women,” she recounts. “I don’t know what happened to my other patients. I was forced to flee when they stormed the hospital.”

The 27-year-old Khalil, was shot in the right foot and thigh as RSF fighters took control of the closeby army headquarters. She ran from the urban area and traveled on foot for one day, injured and without food, to arrive at Garney town. “During the journey, they seized my mobile and currency,” she explains. “I was left with nothing.”

In excess of 1,000 persons – including women and children – traveled on foot for two days to arrive at Tawila town located in northern Darfur after running from El Fasher, which fell under control after an 18-month siege.

This settlement, approximately 34 miles westward of El Fasher, remains under the authority of the Sudan Liberation Army faction led by Abdul Wahid Mohamed al-Nur (SLA-AW).

This past Tuesday, the collaborative Joint Forces – who are allied with Sudan’s army – accused the RSF with murdering over 2,000 civilians following the urban center's takeover. The UN reported that footage existed depicting dozens of weaponless men being shot or lying dead, encircled by RSF combatants.”

Contextual Information

Fighting broke out in Sudan's capital on 15 April 2023 as a growing contest for power among the two primary factions of the military regime ultimately became violent.

Among the combatants exist the official Sudanese army, which maintain general loyalty to Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the de facto head of state. Opposing him are the paramilitaries belonging to the RSF, a collection of militias that obey the former warlord Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, referred to as Hemedti.

The RSF was initially founded by the former dictatorial ruler Bashir's regime as a pro-Arab counterinsurgency force named the Janjaweed, which quickly became synonymous with widespread atrocities. During 2013, Bashir reformed the faction into the Rapid Support Forces, deploying them to crush a new uprising in South Darfur.

The war has pushed Sudan into “one of the worst humanitarian nightmares in recent history”, according to UN officials. It has created the world’s worst displacement crisis, dispersing over 10 million individuals inside the nation and 4 million who have fled into neighbouring countries, generating growing stress upon Chad and South Sudan.

Ongoing Developments

Based on eyewitness accounts, numerous more non-combatants remain trapped by the RSF and allied militias in the Garney area, southwest from El Fasher. Many are former soldiers belonging to the Sudanese military, the Joint Forces and other militant organizations that were previously aligned with the military. Reports indicate they're imprisoned as they lack funds for ransom demands between five and ten million Sudanese pounds (approximately £6,000-£12,000), per those who escaped who made it to Tawila. Those unable to pay have been held for multiple days, and sometimes let go solely after falling seriously ill.

The SLA-AW has reportedly allowed military personnel escaping El Fasher to access Tawila on condition they surrender their weapons.

A man named Adam Yagoub, aged 28, a motorist originating from Sennar from central Sudanese regions, barely avoided execution subsequent to his seizure by three camel-riding militiamen near Garney.

“They wanted to cut my head off with a knife,” he recounts, showing his arm, which one militant assaulted using an AK-47 rifle butt. “Subsequently one identified me – his brother was my colleague – and urged them not to execute me. Our group contained 18 individuals who left El Fasher together, yet merely eight reached Tawila. I think the others are dead.”

Yagoub says he saw 22 bodies near what he called a “fake well” employed by the RSF and associated militias between Garney and Tawila. “It’s a trap,” he comments. “Individuals travel all day lacking water, and upon arriving there, the militiamen await. They slaughtered 22 men on that spot and removed the corpses to conceal them.”

A different medical worker who ran from South El Fasher hospital following Sunday's assault said RSF fighters entered via one entrance and commenced firing upon patients in the ER section, killing at least eight. “We ran out via another entrance, but they hit me on the head with a firearm,” he says.

In a video statement on Wednesday, the RSF commander, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, stated that any military personnel or commander who infringed upon the rights of any person” would be held accountable.

Numerous individuals who fled El Fasher spent hours taking cover close to army artillery positions before running west during nighttime. Already displaced families 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 within Garney reportedly received {water mixed with flour|flour