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The volunteer nurse Nawal Khalil had been serving as a medical volunteer for the past three years in the El Fasher South medical facility as the city became taken over on Sunday by RSF paramilitaries. She was occupied with patient care, including an elderly woman who needed a blood transfusion, when the offensive started.

“They murdered six wounded military personnel plus civilian patients in their beds – including some women,” she recounts. “The outcome remains unknown for my remaining patients. I needed to escape when they stormed the hospital.”

Khalil, 27, was hit by a bullet in her right foot and thigh as RSF fighters took control of the adjacent military command center. She ran from the urban area and journeyed by foot for 24 hours, hurt and lacking sustenance, to arrive at Garney town. “Along the route, they confiscated my phone and currency,” she describes. “I ended up with nothing.”

In excess of 1,000 persons – comprising women and children – walked for two days to get to the settlement of Tawila located in northern Darfur following their escape from El Fasher, which fell under control following an 18-month blockade.

The town of Tawila, approximately 34 miles westward away from El Fasher, is under the control by the SLA faction commanded by Abdul Wahid Mohamed al-Nur.

This past Tuesday, the allied Joint Forces – that cooperate with the Sudanese army – blamed the RSF of killing more than 2,000 civilians following the urban center's takeover. The UN reported that footage existed showing “dozens of unarmed men either being shot or deceased, with RSF militiamen around them.”

Historical Background

Fighting broke out in Sudan's capital back on April 15, 2023 as an escalating power struggle among the two primary factions of the armed forces leadership ultimately became violent.

From one perspective exist the official Sudanese army, which maintain general loyalty towards General al-Burhan, the country’s de facto ruler. Against him are the paramilitaries of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a gathering of armed factions who follow the former warlord General Dagalo, referred to as Hemedti.

The RSF was originally established by the former dictatorial ruler Omar al-Bashir as an Arab counterinsurgency militia known as the Janjaweed, which quickly became synonymous with widespread atrocities. Back in 2013, Bashir transformed the group into the RSF, deploying them to crush a recent insurrection in South Darfur.

The war has pushed Sudan into among the most severe humanitarian crises in recent history”, based on UN statements. It has produced the globe's most severe displacement emergency, dispersing over 10 million individuals within the country plus 4 million who escaped to bordering states, putting mounting pressure upon Chad and South Sudan.

Ongoing Developments

Based on eyewitness accounts, numerous more non-combatants stay confined by RSF forces and associated armed groups in Garney, south-west of El Fasher. Several are previous army members from the Sudanese army, the collaborative forces plus additional armed factions that had been fighting alongside the army. They are apparently detained since they cannot pay extortion payments ranging from 5 to 10 million Sudanese pounds (£6,000 to £12,000), based on survivor accounts who arrived in Tawila. Individuals incapable of paying remain imprisoned for several days, and sometimes freed only when falling seriously ill.

Reports suggest the SLA-AW has authorized military personnel escaping El Fasher to access Tawila if they relinquish their arms.

The individual Adam Yagoub, twenty-eight years old, a motorist originating from Sennar from central Sudanese regions, closely avoided death following his capture by three militiamen on camels close to Garney.

“They wanted to cut my head off with a blade,” he tells, displaying his arm, which one of the fighters hit with the stock of a Kalashnikov. “Subsequently one identified me – his brother had worked with me – and pleaded with them to spare me. There were 18 of us who exited El Fasher as a group, but only eight made it to Tawila. I believe the remainder perished.”

Yagoub states he saw 22 bodies in proximity to what he termed a deceptive well utilized by RSF forces and partner armed groups between Garney and Tawila. “It represents a trap,” he comments. “Individuals travel all day lacking water, and when they get to it, the militiamen await. They killed 22 men there and carried the bodies off to obscure them.”

A different medical worker who fled the El Fasher South medical facility subsequent to Sunday's offensive reported RSF militiamen penetrated via one entrance and opened fire on patients in the ER section, causing at least eight fatalities. “We fled through another gate, yet they assaulted my head with a rifle,” he states.

In a video statement last Wednesday, the head of the RSF, General Dagalo, known as Hemedti, stated that any military personnel or official who breached the rights of any civilian would be punished.

Several people who got away El Fasher spent hours concealing themselves near military artillery 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 prior to ultimately traveling to Tawila.

Those captured by the RSF within Garney reportedly received {water mixed with flour|flour