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The volunteer nurse Nawal Khalil had been working as a nurse over a three-year period at El Fasher South hospital when the city was captured on Sunday by RSF paramilitaries. She was occupied with patient care, among them an older female patient requiring a blood transfusion, as the assault commenced.

“Six injured soldiers were killed plus civilian patients in their beds – including some women,” she states. “The outcome remains unknown to my other patients. I had to run when they stormed the hospital.”

Khalil, aged 27, was shot in the right foot and upper leg as RSF fighters took control of the adjacent military command center. She escaped from the city and journeyed by foot for 24 hours, injured and without food, to arrive at Garney town. “During the journey, they took my phone and currency,” she describes. “I was left with nothing.”

More than 1,000 people – featuring females and minors – journeyed by walking for 48 hours to reach the town of Tawila in North Darfur following their escape from El Fasher, which was captured after an 18-month siege.

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

This past Tuesday, the collaborative Joint Forces – which partner with Sudan's military – blamed the RSF of killing more than 2,000 civilians after the city's capture. The UN reported that footage existed depicting dozens of weaponless men who were shot or found dead, encircled by RSF combatants.”

Background Context

Conflict erupted in Khartoum on 15 April 2023 as an escalating power struggle involving the two key groups of the armed forces leadership ultimately became violent.

Among the combatants stand the Sudanese military forces, that stay mostly faithful towards General al-Burhan, the country’s de facto ruler. Opposing him exist the irregular troops belonging to the RSF, a gathering of armed factions who follow the former warlord Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, referred to as Hemedti.

The Rapid Support Forces were first created by the previous authoritarian leader Omar al-Bashir himself as a pro-Arab counterinsurgency force known as the Janjaweed, which quickly became synonymous with massive human rights violations. Back in 2013, Bashir transformed the group into the RSF, using them to quell a fresh rebellion in South Darfur.

The conflict has plunged Sudan into among the most severe humanitarian crises in recent history”, as per UN representatives. It has generated the world’s worst displacement crisis, scattering more than 10 million people internally along with 4 million refugees into neighbouring countries, generating growing stress upon Chad and South Sudan.

Current Situation Updates

According to witnesses, numerous more non-combatants stay confined by RSF forces and allied militias within Garney, southwest from El Fasher. Numerous are ex-military personnel belonging to the Sudanese military, the collaborative forces plus additional armed factions that had been fighting alongside the army. Reports indicate they're imprisoned as they lack funds for ransom demands 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 developing critical health conditions.

The SLA-AW has apparently permitted army soldiers running from El Fasher to enter Tawila provided they give up their weapons.

Adam Yagoub, twenty-eight years old, a driver from Sennar within central Sudan, closely avoided death subsequent to his seizure by three armed men mounted on camels near Garney.

“They planned to decapitate me with a knife,” he tells, displaying his arm, which one militant assaulted using an AK-47 rifle butt. “Subsequently one identified me – his brother was my colleague – and pleaded with them to spare me. We were 18 people who departed El Fasher collectively, yet merely eight reached Tawila. I believe the remainder perished.”

Yagoub says he saw 22 bodies close to what he described as a “fake well” utilized by RSF forces and partner armed groups in the area connecting Garney and Tawila. “This is an ambush,” he comments. “Persons journey daily without hydration, and upon arriving there, the militiamen await. They killed 22 men there and took the bodies away to conceal them.”

A different medical worker who ran from South El Fasher hospital subsequent to Sunday's offensive said RSF fighters entered through one gate and opened fire on patients in the emergency ward, killing at least eight. “We ran out via another entrance, but they hit me on the head with a rifle,” he states.

In a video statement on Wednesday, the RSF commander, General Dagalo, referred to as Hemedti, said that any soldier or officer who had “violated the right of any civilian would be punished.

Many of those who escaped from El Fasher passed hours taking cover close to army artillery positions before fleeing west during nighttime. Already displaced families originating from the urban Abu Shouk settlement had to displace once more, taking asylum in the Daraja Oula district prior to ultimately traveling to Tawila.

Those captured by the RSF in Garney were reportedly given {water mixed with flour|flour