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A nurse named Nawal Khalil had been volunteering as a nurse for the past three years in the El Fasher South medical facility after the city fell taken over on Sunday by the RSF fighters. She was occupied with patient care, including an elderly woman in need of a transfusion, as the assault commenced.

“Six injured soldiers were killed along with civilians in their beds – including some women,” she states. “I don’t know what happened for my remaining patients. I had to run when they stormed the hospital.”

The 27-year-old Khalil, was hit by a bullet in her right foot and thigh while RSF combatants gained control of the adjacent military command center. She ran from the urban area and traveled on foot for one day, hurt and lacking sustenance, to get to the settlement of Garney. “Along the route, they confiscated my phone and cash,” she describes. “I possessed nothing remaining.”

More than 1,000 people – comprising women and children – 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.

The town of Tawila, about 34 miles (55km) west of El Fasher, remains under the authority by the SLA faction under Abdul Wahid Mohamed al-Nur's leadership.

This past Tuesday, the Joint Forces – who are allied with Sudan’s army – blamed the RSF with murdering over 2,000 civilians since the fall of the city. The UN said that footage existed showing “dozens of unarmed men being shot or lying dead, encircled by RSF combatants.”

Historical Background

Fighting broke out in Khartoum during April of 2023 as an escalating power struggle among the two primary factions of the armed forces leadership eventually resulted in fatalities.

On one side are the Sudanese armed forces, which maintain general loyalty towards General al-Burhan, the de facto head of state. Challenging him are the paramilitaries belonging to the RSF, a gathering of armed factions that obey the former warlord Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti.

The RSF was originally established by the ex-dictator Bashir's regime as an Arab counterinsurgency militia called the Janjaweed, which quickly became synonymous with widespread atrocities. In 2013, Bashir transformed the group into the Rapid Support Forces, using them to quell a new uprising in southern Darfur.

The fighting has thrown Sudan into “one of the worst humanitarian nightmares in contemporary history, according to UN officials. It has created the planet's biggest displacement catastrophe, forcing more than 10 million persons inside the nation plus 4 million who escaped to bordering states, generating growing stress on both Chad and South Sudan.

Ongoing Developments

According to witnesses, thousands more civilians remain trapped by the RSF and partner militias within Garney, south-west of El Fasher. Many are former soldiers belonging to the Sudanese military, the allied Joint Forces and other militant organizations that had been fighting alongside the army. Reports indicate they're imprisoned since they cannot pay extortion payments ranging from 5 to 10 million Sudanese pounds (around six to twelve thousand pounds), according to survivors who made it to Tawila. People who cannot afford payment have been detained for days, and occasionally freed only when becoming gravely ill.

The SLA-AW has apparently permitted military personnel escaping El Fasher to enter Tawila provided they give up their weapons.

The individual Adam Yagoub, aged 28, a motorist originating from Sennar from central Sudanese regions, narrowly escaped being killed after being captured by three camel-riding militiamen near Garney.

“They intended to behead me using a knife,” he informs, displaying his arm, which one militant assaulted with the stock of a Kalashnikov. “Subsequently one identified me – his brother was my colleague – and urged them not to execute me. There were 18 of us who departed El Fasher collectively, yet merely eight reached Tawila. I believe the remainder perished.”

Yagoub states he saw 22 bodies in proximity to what he termed a fraudulent water source utilized by RSF forces and partner armed groups along the Garney-Tawila route. “It’s a trap,” he says. “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 removed the corpses to obscure them.”

Another nurse who escaped El Fasher South hospital after the attack on Sunday reported RSF militiamen penetrated through one gate and opened fire on patients within the emergency department, causing at least eight fatalities. “We escaped through a different gate, however they struck my head with a firearm,” he states.

In a video statement last Wednesday, the head of the RSF, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, declared that any fighter or commander who infringed upon the rights of any individual would face consequences.

Several people who got away El Fasher spent hours hiding near the army’s artillery unit before fleeing west under cover of darkness. Families already uprooted originating from the urban Abu Shouk settlement were compelled to relocate again, taking asylum in the Daraja Oula district before eventually heading for Tawila.

Individuals seized by the RSF in Garney were reportedly given {water mixed with flour|flour