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A nurse named Nawal Khalil had been serving as a nurse over a three-year period in the El Fasher South medical facility when the city was seized last Sunday by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). She was occupied with patient care, among them an older female patient who needed a blood transfusion, as the assault commenced.

“They murdered six wounded military personnel plus civilian patients in their beds – including some women,” she says. “I am unaware of the fate for my remaining patients. I had to run as they invaded the hospital.”

The 27-year-old Khalil, was shot in the right foot and thigh while RSF combatants gained control of the closeby army headquarters. She fled the city and journeyed by foot for 24 hours, wounded and without nourishment, to reach the town of Garney. “Along the route, they seized my mobile and currency,” she explains. “I possessed nothing remaining.”

More than 1,000 people – featuring females and minors – walked for two days to reach the town 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, remains under the authority by the SLA faction commanded by Abdul Wahid Mohamed al-Nur.

On Tuesday, the collaborative Joint Forces – which partner with Sudan's military – accused the RSF with murdering over 2,000 civilians after the city's capture. The UN said that visual evidence showed depicting dozens of weaponless men being shot or lying dead, surrounded by RSF fighters.”

Historical Background

Hostilities commenced in Sudan's capital during April of 2023 as a growing contest for power between the two main factions of the armed forces leadership eventually resulted in fatalities.

On one side exist the official Sudanese army, that stay mostly faithful to Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the country’s de facto ruler. Challenging him exist the irregular troops of the RSF paramilitary group, a gathering of armed factions which support the ex-warlord General Dagalo, known as Hemedti.

The RSF was initially founded by the ex-dictator Omar al-Bashir as a pro-Arab counterinsurgency force named the Janjaweed, that rapidly became associated with massive human rights violations. During 2013, Bashir reformed the faction into the RSF, using them to quell a fresh rebellion in southern Darfur.

The fighting has thrown Sudan into among the most severe humanitarian crises in contemporary history, based on UN statements. It has created the world’s worst displacement crisis, dispersing over 10 million individuals within the country and 4 million who have fled to adjacent nations, generating growing stress on both Chad and South Sudan.

Current Situation Updates

Per observer reports, numerous more non-combatants continue to be held 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 collaborative forces and other militant organizations that had been fighting alongside the army. They are apparently detained as they lack funds for extortion payments ranging from 5 to 10 million Sudanese pounds (approximately £6,000-£12,000), according to survivors 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 government troops fleeing El Fasher to enter Tawila on condition they surrender their weapons.

A man named Adam Yagoub, aged 28, a chauffeur from Sennar from central Sudanese regions, barely avoided execution subsequent to his seizure by three militiamen on camels close to Garney.

“They intended to behead me with a blade,” he recounts, exhibiting his limb, which one militant assaulted using an AK-47 rifle butt. “Afterward one remembered me – his sibling had collaborated with me – and pleaded with them to spare me. Our group contained 18 individuals who left El Fasher together, but only eight made it to Tawila. I believe the remainder perished.”

Yagoub says he witnessed 22 deceased individuals in proximity to what he termed a deceptive well employed by the RSF and partner armed groups along the Garney-Tawila route. “It’s a trap,” he comments. “Persons journey daily without hydration, and when they reach it, the militias are waiting. They murdered 22 males at that location and carried the bodies off to conceal them.”

Another nurse who fled the El Fasher South medical facility after the attack on Sunday reported RSF militiamen penetrated via one entrance and commenced firing upon patients in the ER section, murdering no less than eight. “We escaped through a different gate, but they hit me on the head with a firearm,” he says.

In a video statement this past Wednesday, the RSF commander, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, stated that any military personnel or officer who had “violated the right of any individual would face consequences.

Several people who got away El Fasher utilized hours concealing themselves near military artillery before fleeing west under cover of darkness. Already displaced families from Abu Shouk camp in the city had to displace once more, 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