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The volunteer nurse Nawal Khalil had been working as a healthcare worker for three years within the South El Fasher hospital when the city was captured on Sunday by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). She was occupied with patient care, featuring one senior woman in need of a transfusion, when the attack began.

“They murdered six wounded military personnel and civilians in their beds – including some women,” she says. “The outcome remains unknown to my other patients. I needed to escape as they invaded the hospital.”

The 27-year-old Khalil, received a gunshot wound to her right foot and upper leg during the RSF's seizure of the adjacent military command center. She fled the city and traveled on foot for one day, injured and without food, to arrive at Garney town. “Along the route, they took my phone and cash,” she describes. “I was left with nothing.”

More than 1,000 people – including women and children – journeyed by walking for 48 hours to arrive at Tawila town located in northern Darfur after running from El Fasher, which fell under control after an 18-month siege.

This settlement, around 55 kilometers to the west of 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 – who are allied with Sudan’s army – blamed the RSF of killing more than 2,000 civilians following the urban center's takeover. United Nations officials stated that footage existed depicting dozens of weaponless men who were shot or found dead, surrounded by RSF fighters.”

Background Context

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

On one side are the Sudanese armed forces, who remain broadly loyal to General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the de facto head of state. Challenging him exist the irregular troops belonging to the RSF, a collection of militias who follow the former warlord Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, called Hemedti.

The RSF was originally established by the former dictatorial ruler Omar al-Bashir as an Arab counterinsurgency militia called the Janjaweed, which soon became linked with widespread atrocities. Back in 2013, Bashir reformed the faction to become the RSF, deploying them to crush a fresh rebellion in southern Darfur.

The fighting has thrown Sudan into “one of the worst humanitarian nightmares in contemporary history, based on UN statements. It has generated the world’s worst displacement crisis, dispersing over 10 million individuals within the country and 4 million who have fled to bordering states, creating increasing strain on both Chad and South Sudan.

Ongoing Developments

According to witnesses, many additional civilians stay confined by RSF forces and partner militias within Garney, in the southwestern direction from El Fasher. Several are previous army members from the Sudanese army, the collaborative forces and other militant organizations which had been combatting together with 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), based on survivor accounts who arrived in Tawila. People who cannot afford payment remain imprisoned for several days, and sometimes freed only when falling seriously ill.

Reports suggest the SLA-AW has authorized government troops fleeing El Fasher to enter Tawila if they relinquish their arms.

Adam Yagoub, twenty-eight years old, a motorist originating from Sennar in central Sudan, barely avoided execution subsequent to his seizure by three camel-riding militiamen in the Garney vicinity.

“They wanted to cut my head off using a knife,” he recounts, displaying his arm, that one combatant struck using an AK-47 rifle butt. “Subsequently one identified me – his brother had worked with me – and begged them not to kill me. Our group contained 18 individuals who exited El Fasher as a group, but only eight made it to Tawila. I believe the remainder perished.”

Yagoub states he observed 22 corpses close to what he described as a “fake well” utilized by RSF forces and partner armed groups along the Garney-Tawila route. “It represents a trap,” he comments. “Individuals travel all day lacking water, and when they get to it, the armed groups lie in wait. They murdered 22 males at that location and took the bodies away to hide them.”

Another nurse who escaped El Fasher South hospital subsequent to Sunday's offensive said RSF fighters entered via one entrance and commenced firing upon patients within the emergency department, murdering no less than eight. “We ran out via another entrance, however they struck my head using a rifle,” he says.

Via a recorded message last Wednesday, the leader of the RSF, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, referred to as Hemedti, declared that any fighter or commander who infringed upon the rights of any civilian would be punished.

Numerous individuals who fled El Fasher utilized hours hiding near the army’s artillery unit before running west under darkness's protection. Previously displaced households from the city’s Abu Shouk camp were forced to move again, taking asylum in the Daraja Oula district prior to ultimately traveling to Tawila.

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