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A nurse named Nawal Khalil had been serving as a medical volunteer for three years in the El Fasher South medical facility as the city became taken over on Sunday by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). She was actively caring for the sick, including an elderly woman who needed a blood transfusion, as the assault commenced.

“They killed six wounded soldiers plus civilian patients in their beds – some of them women,” she recounts. “I am unaware of the fate to my other patients. I had to run as they invaded the hospital.”

Khalil, 27, was shot in the right foot and upper leg as RSF fighters took control of the nearby military headquarters. She ran from the urban area and walked for a day, injured and without food, to get to the settlement of Garney. “During the journey, they seized my mobile and money,” she explains. “I ended up with nothing.”

In excess of 1,000 persons – comprising women and children – traveled on foot for two days to reach the town of Tawila within North Darfur after running from El Fasher, which fell under control following an 18-month blockade.

The town of Tawila, about 34 miles (55km) west away from El Fasher, is governed by by the SLA faction commanded by Abdul Wahid Mohamed al-Nur.

Last Tuesday, the allied Joint Forces – that cooperate with the Sudanese army – blamed the RSF with murdering over 2,000 civilians since the fall of the city. The UN reported there were videos showing “dozens of unarmed men who were shot or found dead, encircled by RSF combatants.”

Historical Background

Fighting broke out in Sudan's capital on 15 April 2023 as an escalating power struggle involving the two key groups of the military regime ultimately became violent.

On one side are the Sudanese armed forces, that stay mostly faithful towards General al-Burhan, the nation's actual leader. Against him stand the paramilitary forces of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a gathering of armed factions which support the ex-warlord General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, called Hemedti.

The RSF was initially founded by the previous authoritarian leader Bashir's regime as a pro-Arab counterinsurgency force known as the Janjaweed, which quickly became synonymous with widespread atrocities. During 2013, Bashir transformed the group to become the RSF, deploying them to crush a fresh rebellion within South Darfur.

The fighting has thrown Sudan into “one of the worst humanitarian nightmares in recent history”, based on UN statements. It has generated the world’s worst displacement crisis, scattering more than 10 million people within the country along with 4 million refugees into neighbouring countries, putting mounting pressure upon Chad and South Sudan.

Current Situation Updates

Based on eyewitness accounts, numerous more non-combatants continue to be held by the RSF and allied militias in Garney, southwest from El Fasher. Several are previous army members belonging to the Sudanese military, the collaborative forces and other armed groups which had been combatting together with the army. They are apparently detained because they cannot afford ransom requests between five and ten million Sudanese pounds (£6,000 to £12,000), per those who escaped who arrived in Tawila. Those unable to pay have been detained for days, and sometimes freed only when falling seriously ill.

Reports suggest the SLA-AW has authorized government troops fleeing El Fasher to enter Tawila on condition they surrender their weapons.

The individual Adam Yagoub, aged 28, a driver from Sennar within central Sudan, closely avoided death after being captured by three armed men mounted on camels near Garney.

“They intended to behead me with a blade,” he recounts, showing his arm, that one combatant struck with the butt of an AK-47 rifle. “Subsequently one identified me – his brother had worked with me – and pleaded with them to spare me. There were 18 of us who departed El Fasher collectively, yet merely eight reached Tawila. I think the others are dead.”

Yagoub reports he saw 22 bodies close to what he described as a deceptive well used by the RSF and partner armed groups along the Garney-Tawila route. “This is an ambush,” he says. “People walk all day without water, and when they reach it, the militias are waiting. They killed 22 men there and carried the bodies off to conceal them.”

Another nurse who escaped El Fasher South hospital following Sunday's assault stated RSF combatants came in through one gate and opened fire on patients in the ER section, killing at least eight. “We ran out via another entrance, yet they assaulted my head with a rifle,” he recounts.

Through a video declaration on Wednesday, the head of the RSF, Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, referred to 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 taking cover close to army artillery positions prior to escaping westward under darkness's protection. Previously displaced households from the city’s Abu Shouk camp were compelled to relocate again, seeking refuge in the Daraja Oula neighbourhood prior to ultimately traveling to Tawila.

Those captured by the RSF within Garney reportedly received {water mixed with flour|flour