🔗 Share this article

Nawal Khalil had been serving as a healthcare worker for the past three years in the El Fasher South medical facility after the city fell captured on Sunday by RSF paramilitaries. She was occupied with patient care, including an elderly woman who needed a blood transfusion, as the assault commenced.

“Six injured soldiers were killed and civilians in their beds – among them female victims,” she says. “I am unaware of the fate for my remaining patients. I had to run when they stormed the hospital.”

Khalil, 27, was shot in the right foot and thigh during the RSF's seizure of the closeby army headquarters. She ran from the urban area and journeyed by foot for 24 hours, wounded and without nourishment, to get to the settlement of Garney. “On the way, they seized my mobile and cash,” she describes. “I ended up with nothing.”

In excess of 1,000 persons – comprising women and children – walked for two days to reach the town of Tawila within North Darfur after fleeing El Fasher, which was seized after a year-and-a-half-long siege.

The town of Tawila, approximately 34 miles westward away from El Fasher, remains under the authority by the SLA faction under Abdul Wahid Mohamed al-Nur's leadership.

This past Tuesday, the allied Joint Forces – which partner with Sudan's military – blamed the RSF of killing more than 2,000 civilians following the urban center's takeover. The UN said there were videos depicting dozens of weaponless 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 among the two primary factions of the military regime eventually resulted in fatalities.

Among the combatants stand the Sudanese military forces, who remain broadly loyal towards General al-Burhan, the country’s de facto ruler. Challenging him are the paramilitaries of the RSF paramilitary group, a gathering of armed factions who follow the former warlord General Dagalo, known as Hemedti.

The RSF was originally established by the ex-dictator Omar al-Bashir as an Arab counterinsurgency militia known as the Janjaweed, which soon became linked with widespread atrocities. Back in 2013, Bashir reformed the faction into the Rapid Support Forces, deploying them to crush a new uprising in South Darfur.

The fighting has thrown Sudan into “one of the worst humanitarian nightmares in contemporary history, based on UN statements. It has created the globe's most severe displacement emergency, forcing more than 10 million persons inside the nation and 4 million who have fled to bordering states, creating increasing strain on both Chad and South Sudan.

Ongoing Developments

Per observer reports, numerous more non-combatants continue to be held by the RSF and partner militias in Garney, southwest from El Fasher. Several are previous army members belonging to the Sudanese military, the Joint Forces plus additional armed factions that had been fighting alongside the army. They are apparently detained since they cannot pay extortion payments between five and ten million Sudanese pounds (approximately £6,000-£12,000), based on survivor accounts who reached Tawila. Those unable to pay have been held for multiple days, and occasionally let go solely after becoming gravely ill.

The SLA-AW has apparently permitted government troops fleeing El Fasher to access Tawila provided they give up their weapons.

Adam Yagoub, aged 28, a motorist originating from Sennar within central Sudan, narrowly escaped being killed following his capture by three armed men mounted on camels close to Garney.

“They intended to behead me with a knife,” he tells, exhibiting his limb, which one militant assaulted with the butt of an AK-47 rifle. “Then one of them recognised me – his brother had worked with me – and urged them not to execute me. There were 18 of us who exited El Fasher as a group, however just eight arrived in Tawila. I think the others are dead.”

Yagoub says he observed 22 corpses close to what he described as a “fake well” employed by the RSF and associated militias between Garney and Tawila. “It’s a trap,” he explains. “Individuals travel all day lacking water, and when they reach it, the militiamen await. They murdered 22 males at that location and removed the corpses to obscure them.”

An additional nurse who fled the El Fasher South medical facility subsequent to Sunday's offensive reported RSF militiamen penetrated via one entrance and opened fire on patients in the ER section, killing at least eight. “We ran out via another entrance, yet they assaulted my head using a rifle,” he says.

Via a recorded message this past Wednesday, the RSF commander, Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, said that any soldier or official who breached the rights of any person” would be held accountable.

Many of those who escaped from El Fasher passed hours concealing themselves near military artillery before fleeing west during nighttime. Previously displaced households originating from the urban Abu Shouk settlement were forced to move again, finding shelter in Daraja Oula area prior to ultimately traveling to Tawila.

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