🔗 Share this article

The volunteer nurse Nawal Khalil had been working as a healthcare worker for three years within the South El Fasher hospital as the city became captured on Sunday by the RSF fighters. She was actively caring for the sick, among them an older female patient who needed a blood transfusion, as the assault commenced.

“They murdered six wounded military personnel along with civilians in their beds – including some women,” she says. “I don’t know what happened regarding my other patients. I had to run after they raided the medical facility.”

Khalil, 27, was hit by a bullet in her right foot and upper leg 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 get to the settlement of Garney. “Along the route, they seized my mobile and money,” she describes. “I ended up with nothing.”

In excess of 1,000 persons – comprising women and children – traveled on foot for two days to get to the settlement of Tawila within North Darfur after fleeing El Fasher, which was captured following an 18-month blockade.

The town of Tawila, about 34 miles (55km) west 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 – that cooperate with the Sudanese army – charged the RSF with murdering over 2,000 civilians following the urban center's takeover. The UN said that footage existed depicting dozens of weaponless men who were shot or found dead, encircled by RSF combatants.”

Historical Background

Conflict erupted in Sudan's capital during April of 2023 as an escalating power struggle between the two main factions within the military government finally turned deadly.

From one perspective exist the official Sudanese army, which maintain general loyalty to General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the country’s de facto ruler. Against him exist the irregular troops of the RSF paramilitary group, an assembly of militia groups that obey the former warlord General Dagalo, called Hemedti.

The Rapid Support Forces were first created by the previous authoritarian leader Omar al-Bashir himself as an Arab counterinsurgency militia called the Janjaweed, that rapidly became associated with massive human rights violations. Back in 2013, Bashir reformed the faction to become the RSF, sending them to suppress a recent insurrection in southern Darfur.

The fighting has thrown Sudan into a terrible humanitarian disaster in recent history”, based on UN statements. It has created the globe's most severe displacement emergency, forcing more than 10 million persons internally along with 4 million refugees to adjacent nations, putting mounting pressure on both Chad and South Sudan.

Ongoing Developments

According to witnesses, numerous more non-combatants remain trapped by the RSF and associated armed groups in Garney, in the southwestern direction from El Fasher. Many are former soldiers from the Sudanese army, the allied Joint Forces plus additional armed factions that were previously aligned with the military. Reports indicate they're imprisoned since they cannot pay ransom requests ranging from 5 to 10 million Sudanese pounds (£6,000 to £12,000), based on survivor accounts who made it to Tawila. People who cannot afford payment remain imprisoned for several days, and occasionally freed only when becoming gravely ill.

The SLA-AW has reportedly allowed military personnel escaping El Fasher to access Tawila provided they give up their weapons.

A man named Adam Yagoub, 28, a driver from Sennar within central Sudan, barely avoided execution following his capture by three militiamen on camels close to Garney.

“They planned to decapitate me with a blade,” he informs, showing his arm, which one of the fighters hit with the stock of a Kalashnikov. “Subsequently one identified me – his sibling had collaborated with me – and begged them not to kill me. We were 18 people who left El Fasher together, yet merely eight reached Tawila. I think the others are dead.”

Yagoub reports he observed 22 corpses in proximity to what he termed a deceptive well employed by the RSF and associated militias in the area connecting Garney and Tawila. “It represents a trap,” he explains. “People walk all day without water, and when they get to it, the armed groups lie in wait. They killed 22 men there and carried the bodies off to obscure them.”

An additional nurse who ran from South El Fasher hospital after the attack on Sunday stated RSF combatants came in through one gate and opened fire on patients in the ER section, causing at least eight fatalities. “We fled through another gate, however they struck my head with a firearm,” he says.

In a video statement last Wednesday, the head of the RSF, Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, referred to as Hemedti, stated that any military personnel or official who breached the rights of any individual would face consequences.

Many of those who escaped from El Fasher passed hours taking cover close to army artillery positions before running west under darkness's protection. Families already uprooted from Abu Shouk camp in the city had to displace once more, finding shelter in Daraja Oula area before finally moving toward Tawila.

People apprehended by RSF forces in Garney were apparently provided {water mixed with flour|flour