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Nawal Khalil had been volunteering as a nurse for the past three years within the South El Fasher hospital when the city was captured on Sunday by RSF paramilitaries. She was occupied with patient care, featuring one senior woman who needed a blood transfusion, when the attack began.

“They murdered six wounded military personnel plus civilian patients in their beds – including some women,” she recounts. “I don’t know what happened for my remaining patients. I had to run when they stormed the hospital.”

Khalil, aged 27, received a gunshot wound to her right foot and upper leg while RSF combatants gained control of the closeby army headquarters. She ran from the urban area and traveled on foot for one day, wounded and without nourishment, to arrive at Garney town. “On the way, they seized my mobile and money,” she describes. “I ended up with nothing.”

More than 1,000 people – comprising women and children – walked for two days to arrive at Tawila town located in northern Darfur after running from El Fasher, which was seized following an 18-month blockade.

The town of Tawila, around 55 kilometers to the west of El Fasher, is under the control of the SLA-AW group led by Abdul Wahid Mohamed al-Nur (SLA-AW).

Last Tuesday, the Joint Forces – who are allied with Sudan’s army – charged the RSF with murdering over 2,000 civilians since the fall of the city. The UN reported that visual evidence showed featuring numerous unarmed males being shot or lying dead, surrounded by RSF fighters.”

Historical Background

Hostilities commenced in Khartoum during April of 2023 as a growing contest for power involving the two key groups of the armed forces leadership eventually resulted in fatalities.

On one side stand the Sudanese military forces, who remain broadly loyal to General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the de facto head of state. Opposing him exist the irregular troops belonging to the RSF, a collection of militias that obey the former warlord Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, called Hemedti.

The RSF was initially founded by the former dictatorial ruler Omar al-Bashir as a pro-Arab counterinsurgency force known as the Janjaweed, which quickly became synonymous with extensive brutalities. During 2013, Bashir converted the organization into the RSF, using them to quell a fresh rebellion in southern Darfur.

The conflict has plunged Sudan into a terrible humanitarian disaster in modern times, as per UN representatives. It has created the planet's biggest displacement catastrophe, forcing more than 10 million persons internally plus 4 million who escaped to bordering states, putting mounting pressure on both Chad and South Sudan.

Ongoing Developments

Per observer reports, thousands more civilians remain trapped by the RSF and associated armed groups in Garney, south-west of El Fasher. Many are former soldiers belonging to the Sudanese military, the collaborative forces plus additional armed factions that were previously aligned with the military. Reports indicate they're imprisoned as they lack funds for extortion payments between five and ten million Sudanese pounds (approximately £6,000-£12,000), according to survivors who arrived in Tawila. Those unable to pay have been detained for days, and in some cases let go solely after developing critical health conditions.

The SLA-AW has apparently permitted army soldiers running from El Fasher to access Tawila if they relinquish their arms.

A man named Adam Yagoub, twenty-eight years old, a chauffeur from Sennar from central Sudanese regions, barely avoided execution subsequent to his seizure by three camel-riding militiamen in the Garney vicinity.

“They intended to behead me using a knife,” he recounts, displaying his arm, that one combatant struck with the stock of a Kalashnikov. “Afterward one remembered me – his sibling had collaborated with me – and begged them not to kill 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 says he witnessed 22 deceased individuals near what he called a “fake well” employed by the RSF and allied militias along the Garney-Tawila route. “It’s a trap,” he says. “Persons journey daily without hydration, and when they get to it, the militias are waiting. They murdered 22 males at that location and carried the bodies off to obscure them.”

A different medical worker who escaped El Fasher South hospital following Sunday's assault reported RSF militiamen penetrated via one entrance and opened fire on patients in the ER section, killing at least eight. “We escaped through a different gate, yet they assaulted my head with a rifle,” he states.

In a video statement last Wednesday, the RSF commander, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, called Hemedti, stated that any military personnel or officer who had “violated the right of any person” would be held accountable.

Numerous individuals who fled El Fasher utilized hours taking cover close to army artillery positions before fleeing west under cover of darkness. Previously displaced households from the city’s Abu Shouk camp had to displace once more, finding shelter in Daraja Oula area before finally moving toward Tawila.

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