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The volunteer nurse Nawal Khalil had been working as a medical volunteer for three years within the South El Fasher hospital as the city became captured on Sunday by RSF paramilitaries. She was actively caring for the sick, among them an older female patient in need of a transfusion, as the assault commenced.

“They killed six wounded soldiers plus civilian patients in their beds – including some women,” she recounts. “The outcome remains unknown for my remaining patients. I had to run after they raided the medical facility.”

Khalil, aged 27, received a gunshot wound to her right foot and thigh while RSF combatants gained control of the nearby military headquarters. She escaped from the city and traveled on foot for one day, hurt and lacking sustenance, to get to the settlement of Garney. “During the journey, they took my phone and cash,” she explains. “I possessed nothing remaining.”

More than 1,000 people – featuring females and minors – journeyed by walking for 48 hours to get to the settlement of Tawila in North Darfur following their escape from El Fasher, which fell under control after a year-and-a-half-long siege.

The town of Tawila, about 34 miles (55km) west from El Fasher, remains under the authority of the Sudan Liberation Army faction led by Abdul Wahid Mohamed al-Nur (SLA-AW).

On 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. United Nations officials stated that visual evidence showed depicting dozens of weaponless men either being shot or deceased, surrounded by RSF fighters.”

Historical Background

Conflict erupted within Khartoum back on April 15, 2023 as a growing contest for power involving the two key groups within the military government finally turned deadly.

Among the combatants stand the Sudanese military forces, which maintain general loyalty towards General al-Burhan, the de facto head of state. Opposing him stand the paramilitary forces belonging to the RSF, a gathering of armed factions who follow the former warlord General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, referred to as Hemedti.

The Rapid Support Forces were first created by the former dictatorial ruler Omar al-Bashir as a pro-Arab counterinsurgency force named the Janjaweed, that rapidly became associated with extensive brutalities. In 2013, Bashir transformed the group into the Rapid Support Forces, sending them to suppress a recent insurrection in South Darfur.

The conflict has plunged Sudan into “one of the worst humanitarian nightmares in recent history”, according to UN officials. It has generated the globe's most severe displacement emergency, forcing more than 10 million persons inside the nation plus 4 million who escaped to adjacent nations, creating increasing strain on Chad and South Sudan.

Present Circumstances

Based on eyewitness accounts, numerous more non-combatants stay confined by RSF forces and allied militias in Garney, southwest from El Fasher. Numerous are ex-military personnel from Sudan's armed forces, the allied Joint Forces plus additional armed factions which had been combatting together with the army. Reports indicate they're imprisoned since they cannot pay ransom requests between five and ten million Sudanese pounds (£6,000 to £12,000), per those who escaped who made it to Tawila. Individuals incapable of paying have been held for multiple days, and in some cases released only after becoming gravely ill.

Reports suggest the SLA-AW has authorized government troops fleeing El Fasher to enter Tawila on condition they surrender their weapons.

The individual Adam Yagoub, aged 28, a chauffeur from Sennar in central Sudan, closely avoided death after being captured by three militiamen on camels in the Garney vicinity.

“They intended to behead me with a knife,” he tells, displaying his arm, which one militant assaulted with the stock of a Kalashnikov. “Then one of them recognised me – his brother had worked with me – and urged them not to execute me. Our group contained 18 individuals who departed El Fasher collectively, but only eight made it to Tawila. I believe the remainder perished.”

Yagoub reports he saw 22 bodies close to what he described as a deceptive well used by the RSF and associated militias between Garney and Tawila. “This is an ambush,” he comments. “Individuals travel all day lacking water, and when they get to it, the militias are waiting. They murdered 22 males at that location and took the bodies away to hide them.”

Another nurse who ran from South El Fasher hospital following Sunday's assault said RSF fighters entered through one gate and commenced firing upon patients within the emergency department, killing at least eight. “We escaped through a different gate, but they hit me on the head using a rifle,” he states.

Via a recorded message this past Wednesday, the leader of the RSF, Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, said that any soldier or officer who had “violated the right of any person” would be held accountable.

Several people who got away El Fasher spent hours concealing themselves near military artillery prior to escaping westward under darkness's protection. Already displaced families from the city’s Abu Shouk camp had to displace once more, taking asylum in the Daraja Oula district before eventually heading for Tawila.

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