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A nurse named Nawal Khalil had been working as a medical volunteer over a three-year period at El Fasher South hospital after the city fell seized last Sunday by RSF paramilitaries. She was occupied with patient care, including an elderly woman requiring a blood transfusion, when the offensive started.

“They murdered six wounded military personnel plus civilian patients in their beds – some of them women,” she recounts. “I am unaware of the fate regarding my other patients. I was forced to flee when they stormed the hospital.”

Khalil, 27, was hit by a bullet in her right foot and upper leg as RSF fighters took control of the adjacent military command center. She ran from the urban area and journeyed by foot for 24 hours, wounded and without nourishment, to get to the settlement of Garney. “Along the route, they took my phone and money,” she explains. “I possessed nothing remaining.”

More than 1,000 people – featuring females and minors – journeyed by walking for 48 hours to reach the town of Tawila located in northern Darfur following their escape from El Fasher, which was captured after an 18-month siege.

Tawila, about 34 miles (55km) west away from El Fasher, remains under the authority of the SLA-AW group commanded by Abdul Wahid Mohamed al-Nur.

Last Tuesday, the Joint Forces – that cooperate with the Sudanese army – accused the RSF with murdering over 2,000 civilians following the urban center's takeover. The UN said there were videos showing “dozens of unarmed men who were shot or found dead, with RSF militiamen around them.”

Background Context

Conflict erupted in Sudan's capital during April of 2023 as a growing contest for power between the two main factions within the military government eventually resulted in fatalities.

From one perspective are the Sudanese armed forces, that stay mostly faithful to General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the country’s de facto ruler. Against him are the paramilitaries belonging to the RSF, an assembly of militia groups which support the ex-warlord Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti.

The Rapid Support Forces were first created by the previous authoritarian leader Omar al-Bashir as a pro-Arab counterinsurgency force known as the Janjaweed, which soon became linked with massive human rights violations. Back in 2013, Bashir converted the organization into the RSF, using them to quell a fresh rebellion in southern Darfur.

The conflict has plunged Sudan into “one of the worst humanitarian nightmares in contemporary history, based on UN statements. It has created the planet's biggest displacement catastrophe, forcing more than 10 million persons within the country plus 4 million who escaped into neighbouring countries, generating growing stress on Chad and South Sudan.

Ongoing Developments

Based on eyewitness accounts, thousands more civilians continue to be held by the RSF and associated armed groups in the Garney area, in the southwestern direction from El Fasher. Many are former soldiers from the Sudanese army, the collaborative forces and other armed groups that were previously aligned with the military. Reports indicate they're imprisoned since they cannot pay extortion payments of between 5m and 10m Sudanese pounds (around six to twelve thousand pounds), per those who escaped who made it to Tawila. People who cannot afford payment remain imprisoned for several days, and occasionally let go solely after falling seriously ill.

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

Adam Yagoub, 28, a motorist originating from Sennar in central Sudan, narrowly escaped being killed after being captured by three camel-riding militiamen in the Garney vicinity.

“They wanted to cut my head off using a knife,” he tells, displaying his arm, which one of the fighters hit with the butt of an AK-47 rifle. “Afterward one remembered me – his brother had worked with me – and urged them not to execute me. Our group contained 18 individuals who exited El Fasher as a group, but only eight made it to Tawila. I assume the others died.”

Yagoub states he witnessed 22 deceased individuals near what he called a deceptive well employed by the RSF and partner armed groups along the Garney-Tawila route. “It represents a trap,” he explains. “Individuals travel all day lacking water, and upon arriving there, the armed groups lie in wait. They killed 22 men there and removed the corpses to conceal them.”

An additional nurse who escaped El Fasher South hospital after the attack on Sunday stated RSF combatants came in through one gate and commenced firing upon patients within the emergency department, murdering no less than eight. “We ran out via another entrance, but they hit me on the head with a rifle,” he states.

Via a recorded message on Wednesday, the head of the RSF, General Dagalo, referred to as Hemedti, declared that any fighter or official who breached the rights of any civilian would be punished.

Many of those who escaped El Fasher utilized hours hiding near the army’s artillery unit before fleeing west under cover of darkness. Families already uprooted originating from the urban Abu Shouk settlement were forced to move again, taking asylum in the Daraja Oula district before finally moving toward Tawila.

People apprehended by RSF forces within Garney reportedly received {water mixed with flour|flour