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A nurse named Nawal Khalil had been volunteering as a healthcare worker for the past three years at El Fasher South hospital as the city became captured on Sunday by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). She was actively caring for the sick, among them an older female patient who needed a blood transfusion, as the assault commenced.

“Six injured soldiers were killed and civilians in their beds – among them female victims,” she recounts. “I don’t know what happened to my other patients. I was forced to flee 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 nearby military headquarters. She ran from the urban area and traveled on foot for one day, injured and without food, to get to the settlement of Garney. “During the journey, they confiscated my phone and money,” she describes. “I was left with nothing.”

Over a thousand individuals – featuring females and minors – walked for two days to arrive at Tawila town in North Darfur after fleeing El Fasher, which fell under control after an 18-month siege.

This settlement, about 34 miles (55km) west from El Fasher, is governed by of the SLA-AW group under Abdul Wahid Mohamed al-Nur's leadership.

This past Tuesday, the allied Joint Forces – which partner with Sudan's military – charged the RSF for slaughtering in excess of 2,000 non-combatants following the urban center's takeover. The UN said that footage existed showing “dozens of unarmed men who were shot or found dead, surrounded by RSF fighters.”

Historical Background

Hostilities commenced within Khartoum back on April 15, 2023 as a growing contest for power involving the two key groups of the military regime ultimately became violent.

Among the combatants are the Sudanese armed forces, that stay mostly faithful to Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the de facto head of state. Challenging him exist the irregular troops of the RSF paramilitary group, a collection of militias that obey the former warlord General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, referred to as Hemedti.

The RSF was initially founded by the ex-dictator Omar al-Bashir as an Arab counterinsurgency militia called the Janjaweed, that rapidly became associated with extensive brutalities. During 2013, Bashir converted the organization to become the RSF, using them to quell a fresh rebellion within South Darfur.

The war has pushed Sudan into a terrible humanitarian disaster in modern times, as per UN representatives. It has created the world’s worst displacement crisis, scattering more than 10 million people inside the nation along with 4 million refugees into neighbouring countries, putting mounting pressure upon Chad and South Sudan.

Present Circumstances

According to witnesses, many additional civilians continue to be held by the RSF and allied militias in the Garney area, in the southwestern direction from El Fasher. Several are previous army members belonging to the Sudanese military, the Joint Forces and other militant organizations which had been combatting together with the army. They are reportedly being held since they cannot pay ransom requests ranging from 5 to 10 million Sudanese pounds (£6,000 to £12,000), per those who escaped who reached Tawila. Those unable to pay have been detained for days, and occasionally released only after becoming gravely ill.

Reports suggest the SLA-AW has authorized military personnel escaping El Fasher to enter Tawila provided they give up their weapons.

A man named Adam Yagoub, aged 28, a motorist originating from Sennar in central Sudan, narrowly escaped being killed after being captured by three armed men mounted on camels near Garney.

“They planned to decapitate me with a knife,” he recounts, showing his arm, which one of the fighters hit 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. Our group contained 18 individuals who exited El Fasher as a group, however just eight arrived in Tawila. I think the others are dead.”

Yagoub states he saw 22 bodies in proximity to what he termed a “fake well” utilized by RSF forces and associated militias in the area connecting Garney and Tawila. “It represents a trap,” he says. “Persons journey daily without hydration, and upon arriving there, the armed groups lie in wait. They killed 22 men there and carried the bodies off to hide them.”

Another nurse who escaped El Fasher South hospital subsequent to Sunday's offensive reported RSF militiamen penetrated through one gate and began shooting at patients in the ER section, murdering no less than eight. “We fled through another gate, yet they assaulted my head with a firearm,” he says.

In a video statement this past Wednesday, the head of the RSF, Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, declared that any fighter or official who breached the rights of any individual would face consequences.

Many of those who escaped El Fasher spent hours taking cover close to army artillery positions before running west under cover of darkness. Families already uprooted from Abu Shouk camp in the city were forced to move again, 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