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Nawal Khalil had been working as a medical volunteer for the past three years in the El Fasher South medical facility as the city became seized last Sunday by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). She was actively caring for the sick, featuring one senior woman requiring a blood transfusion, when the attack began.

“They murdered six wounded military personnel along with civilians in their beds – including some women,” she states. “I am unaware of the fate regarding my other patients. I needed to escape as they invaded the hospital.”

Khalil, 27, was hit by a bullet in her right foot and thigh while RSF combatants gained control of the closeby army headquarters. She fled the city and walked for a day, wounded and without nourishment, to reach the town of Garney. “On the way, they took my phone and currency,” she says. “I was left with nothing.”

In excess of 1,000 persons – comprising women and children – walked for two days to get to the settlement of Tawila within North Darfur following their escape from El Fasher, which was captured following an 18-month blockade.

This settlement, approximately 34 miles westward away from El Fasher, is under the control by the SLA faction led by Abdul Wahid Mohamed al-Nur (SLA-AW).

This past Tuesday, the Joint Forces – which partner with Sudan's military – accused the RSF for slaughtering in excess of 2,000 non-combatants after the city's capture. United Nations officials stated that visual evidence showed showing “dozens of unarmed men who were shot or found dead, with RSF militiamen around them.”

Historical Background

Hostilities commenced in Sudan's capital during April of 2023 as a growing contest for power involving the two key groups of the armed forces leadership ultimately became violent.

Among the combatants are the Sudanese armed forces, that stay mostly faithful to General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the nation's actual leader. Challenging him exist the irregular troops of the RSF paramilitary group, a gathering of armed factions that obey the former warlord Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti.

The RSF was originally established by the previous authoritarian leader Bashir's regime as a pro-Arab counterinsurgency force named the Janjaweed, which quickly became synonymous with extensive brutalities. In 2013, Bashir reformed the faction into the RSF, deploying them to crush a fresh rebellion in South Darfur.

The war has pushed Sudan into “one of the worst humanitarian nightmares in modern times, as per UN representatives. It has created the world’s worst displacement crisis, forcing more than 10 million persons internally along with 4 million refugees into neighbouring countries, generating growing stress on both Chad and South Sudan.

Present Circumstances

Per observer reports, numerous more non-combatants stay confined by RSF forces and allied militias within Garney, south-west of El Fasher. Many are former soldiers from the Sudanese army, the collaborative forces and other militant organizations which had been combatting together with the army. They are reportedly being held since they cannot pay ransom demands between five and ten million Sudanese pounds (approximately £6,000-£12,000), based on survivor accounts who made it to Tawila. Those unable to pay have been detained for days, and in some cases let go solely after falling seriously ill.

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

Adam Yagoub, 28, a driver from Sennar within central Sudan, barely avoided execution following his capture by three camel-riding militiamen in the Garney vicinity.

“They wanted to cut my head off with a blade,” he informs, displaying his arm, that one combatant struck using an AK-47 rifle butt. “Then one of them recognised me – his sibling had collaborated with me – and urged them not to execute me. We were 18 people who departed El Fasher collectively, yet merely eight reached Tawila. I assume the others died.”

Yagoub states he saw 22 bodies close to what he described as a fraudulent water source utilized by RSF forces and associated militias between Garney and Tawila. “It’s a trap,” he explains. “Persons journey daily without hydration, and when they get to it, the armed groups lie in wait. They slaughtered 22 men on that spot and carried the bodies off to conceal them.”

A different medical worker who fled the El Fasher South medical facility following Sunday's assault stated RSF combatants came in via one entrance and began shooting at patients within the emergency department, causing at least eight fatalities. “We ran out via another entrance, but they hit me on the head with a firearm,” he states.

In a video statement last Wednesday, the leader of the RSF, General Dagalo, called Hemedti, stated that any military personnel or commander who infringed upon the rights of any individual would face consequences.

Many of those who escaped El Fasher spent hours hiding near the army’s artillery unit before running west during nighttime. Already displaced families originating from the urban Abu Shouk settlement were forced to move again, taking asylum in the Daraja Oula district before eventually heading for Tawila.

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