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A nurse named Nawal Khalil had been working as a healthcare worker over a three-year period in the El Fasher South medical facility when the city was seized last Sunday by the RSF fighters. She was actively caring for the sick, among them an older female patient requiring a blood transfusion, when the offensive started.

“They murdered six wounded military personnel and civilians in their beds – among them female victims,” she recounts. “I don’t know what happened for my remaining patients. I needed to escape as they invaded the hospital.”

Khalil, aged 27, was hit by a bullet in her right foot and thigh during the RSF's seizure of the adjacent military command center. She fled the city and walked for a day, wounded and without nourishment, to arrive at Garney town. “Along the route, they seized my mobile and currency,” she says. “I was left with nothing.”

More than 1,000 people – comprising women and children – walked for two days to reach the town of Tawila located in northern Darfur following their escape from El Fasher, which fell under control after a year-and-a-half-long siege.

Tawila, about 34 miles (55km) west of El Fasher, remains under the authority of the Sudan Liberation Army 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 for slaughtering in excess of 2,000 non-combatants after the city's capture. The UN said that footage existed featuring numerous unarmed males who were shot or found dead, surrounded by RSF fighters.”

Contextual Information

Fighting broke out in Khartoum during April of 2023 as a growing contest for power among the two primary factions of the military regime eventually resulted in fatalities.

On one side exist the official Sudanese army, which maintain general loyalty to General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the country’s de facto ruler. Opposing him exist the irregular troops of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a gathering of armed factions that obey the former warlord General Dagalo, known as Hemedti.

The RSF was initially founded by the former dictatorial ruler Bashir's regime as an Arab counterinsurgency militia known as the Janjaweed, which soon became linked with widespread atrocities. In 2013, Bashir transformed the group into the RSF, using them to quell a new uprising in South Darfur.

The war has pushed Sudan into “one of the worst humanitarian nightmares in contemporary history, as per UN representatives. It has created the world’s worst displacement crisis, forcing more than 10 million persons inside the nation along with 4 million refugees to adjacent nations, putting mounting pressure upon Chad and South Sudan.

Present Circumstances

Per observer reports, numerous more non-combatants continue to be held by the RSF and partner militias in the Garney area, south-west of El Fasher. Several are previous army members from the Sudanese army, the allied Joint Forces and other armed groups which had been combatting together with the army. Reports indicate they're imprisoned since they cannot pay extortion payments between five and ten million Sudanese pounds (approximately £6,000-£12,000), per those who escaped who arrived in Tawila. Those unable to pay have been held for multiple days, and sometimes freed only when developing critical health conditions.

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

Adam Yagoub, aged 28, a driver from Sennar in central Sudan, closely avoided death following his capture by three camel-riding militiamen near Garney.

“They intended to behead me with a knife,” he tells, showing his arm, that one combatant struck 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 left El Fasher together, yet merely eight reached Tawila. I think the others are dead.”

Yagoub states he witnessed 22 deceased individuals near what he called a deceptive well utilized by RSF forces and partner armed groups along the Garney-Tawila route. “It represents a trap,” he says. “Persons journey daily without hydration, and when they get to it, the militias are waiting. They killed 22 men there and took the bodies away to obscure them.”

A different medical worker who fled the El Fasher South medical facility after the attack on Sunday reported RSF militiamen penetrated using one doorway and began shooting at patients within the emergency department, causing at least eight fatalities. “We fled through another gate, however they struck my head with a rifle,” he says.

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

Several people who got away El Fasher utilized hours taking cover close to army artillery positions before fleeing west during nighttime. Families already uprooted from Abu Shouk camp in the city were compelled to relocate again, finding shelter in Daraja Oula area before finally moving toward Tawila.

Individuals seized by the RSF in Garney were apparently provided {water mixed with flour|flour