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Nawal Khalil had been volunteering as a medical volunteer for the past three years within the South El Fasher hospital after the city fell seized last Sunday by RSF paramilitaries. She was actively caring for the sick, among them an older female patient requiring a blood transfusion, when the offensive started.

“They killed six wounded soldiers and civilians in their beds – among them female victims,” she states. “The outcome remains unknown for my remaining patients. I had to run when they stormed the hospital.”

The 27-year-old Khalil, was hit by a bullet in her right foot and upper leg during the RSF's seizure of the adjacent military command center. She escaped from the city and walked for a day, hurt and lacking sustenance, to get to the settlement of Garney. “During the journey, they seized my mobile and money,” she says. “I ended up with nothing.”

In excess of 1,000 persons – comprising women and children – journeyed by walking for 48 hours to arrive at Tawila town in North Darfur after running from El Fasher, which was seized after a year-and-a-half-long siege.

This settlement, about 34 miles (55km) west away from El Fasher, is under the control of the SLA-AW group under Abdul Wahid Mohamed al-Nur's leadership.

On Tuesday, the Joint Forces – that cooperate with the Sudanese army – blamed the RSF with murdering over 2,000 civilians since the fall of the city. United Nations officials stated that footage existed depicting dozens of weaponless men being shot or lying dead, encircled by RSF combatants.”

Background Context

Hostilities commenced in Khartoum back on April 15, 2023 as a growing contest for power between the two main factions of the armed forces leadership eventually resulted in fatalities.

Among the combatants are the Sudanese armed forces, who remain broadly loyal towards General al-Burhan, the de facto head of state. Opposing him stand the paramilitary forces belonging to the RSF, a collection of militias which support the ex-warlord General Dagalo, called Hemedti.

The Rapid Support Forces were first created by the ex-dictator Omar al-Bashir as an Arab anti-rebellion militia named the Janjaweed, which quickly became synonymous with extensive brutalities. Back in 2013, Bashir transformed the group into the Rapid Support Forces, using them to quell a fresh rebellion in southern Darfur.

The war has pushed Sudan into “one of the worst humanitarian nightmares in recent history”, as per UN representatives. It has generated the globe's most severe displacement emergency, scattering more than 10 million people inside the nation along with 4 million refugees to adjacent nations, creating increasing strain on Chad and South Sudan.

Present Circumstances

According to witnesses, many additional civilians stay confined by RSF forces and allied militias in Garney, southwest from El Fasher. Many are former soldiers belonging to the Sudanese military, the collaborative forces and other armed groups that were previously aligned with the military. They are reportedly being held because they cannot afford ransom demands of between 5m and 10m Sudanese pounds (around six to twelve thousand pounds), based on survivor accounts who reached Tawila. Individuals incapable of paying remain imprisoned for several days, and occasionally freed only when falling seriously ill.

The SLA-AW has reportedly allowed army soldiers running from El Fasher to come into Tawila on condition they surrender their weapons.

A man named Adam Yagoub, twenty-eight years old, a motorist originating from Sennar within central Sudan, narrowly escaped being killed following his capture by three militiamen on camels in the Garney vicinity.

“They planned to decapitate me with a blade,” he recounts, displaying his arm, that one combatant struck with the stock of a Kalashnikov. “Then one of them recognised me – his brother had worked with me – and pleaded with them to spare me. Our group contained 18 individuals who departed El Fasher collectively, however just eight arrived in Tawila. I assume the others died.”

Yagoub says he witnessed 22 deceased individuals near what he called a “fake well” used by the RSF and associated militias between Garney and Tawila. “This is an ambush,” he explains. “Persons journey daily without hydration, and upon arriving there, the armed groups lie in wait. They killed 22 men there and carried the bodies off to obscure them.”

Another nurse who fled the El Fasher South medical facility following Sunday's assault said RSF fighters entered via one entrance and commenced firing upon patients in the ER section, murdering no less than eight. “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, referred to as Hemedti, declared that any fighter or commander who infringed upon the rights of any individual would face consequences.

Several people who got away El Fasher spent hours concealing themselves near military artillery before running west under darkness's protection. Already displaced families from Abu Shouk camp in the city were compelled to relocate again, taking asylum in the Daraja Oula district prior to ultimately traveling to Tawila.

Those captured by the RSF in Garney were reportedly given {water mixed with flour|flour