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Nawal Khalil had been serving as a medical volunteer for three years at El Fasher South hospital when the city was seized last Sunday by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). She was actively caring for the sick, among them an older female patient requiring a blood transfusion, as the assault commenced.

“They killed six wounded soldiers along with civilians in their beds – among them female victims,” she states. “I am unaware of the fate to my other patients. I had to run as they invaded the hospital.”

The 27-year-old Khalil, was shot in the right foot and upper leg as RSF fighters took control of the nearby military headquarters. She fled the city and walked for a day, injured and without food, to get to the settlement of Garney. “Along the route, they confiscated my phone and currency,” she says. “I was left with nothing.”

In excess of 1,000 persons – including women and children – walked for two days to get to the settlement of Tawila located in northern Darfur after fleeing El Fasher, which was seized following an 18-month blockade.

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

On Tuesday, the allied Joint Forces – which partner with Sudan's military – charged 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 who were shot or found dead, surrounded by RSF fighters.”

Historical Background

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

Among the combatants stand the Sudanese military forces, that stay mostly faithful towards General al-Burhan, the country’s de facto ruler. Against him exist the irregular troops of the RSF paramilitary group, an assembly of militia groups who follow the former warlord General Dagalo, called Hemedti.

The Rapid Support Forces were first created by the former dictatorial ruler Bashir's regime as an Arab counterinsurgency militia named the Janjaweed, which soon became linked with extensive brutalities. Back in 2013, Bashir reformed the faction to become the RSF, sending them to suppress a new uprising in South Darfur.

The conflict has plunged Sudan into among the most severe humanitarian crises in contemporary history, as per UN representatives. It has generated the planet's biggest displacement catastrophe, scattering more than 10 million people inside the nation along with 4 million refugees into neighbouring countries, putting mounting pressure on Chad and South Sudan.

Ongoing Developments

According to witnesses, thousands more civilians stay confined by RSF forces and allied militias in the Garney area, in the southwestern direction from El Fasher. Many are former soldiers from Sudan's armed forces, the Joint Forces plus additional armed factions which had been combatting together with the army. They are reportedly being held as they lack funds for extortion payments of between 5m and 10m Sudanese pounds (£6,000 to £12,000), according to survivors who made it to Tawila. People who cannot afford payment remain imprisoned for several days, and sometimes released only after becoming gravely ill.

The SLA-AW has apparently permitted government troops fleeing El Fasher to enter Tawila if they relinquish their arms.

Adam Yagoub, aged 28, a driver from Sennar from central Sudanese regions, narrowly escaped being killed following his capture by three camel-riding militiamen close to Garney.

“They intended to behead me with a blade,” he informs, showing his arm, which one of the fighters hit with the butt of an AK-47 rifle. “Then one of them recognised me – his brother had worked with me – and urged them not to execute me. We were 18 people who departed El Fasher collectively, yet merely eight reached Tawila. I believe the remainder perished.”

Yagoub reports he witnessed 22 deceased individuals near what he called a deceptive well employed by the RSF and associated militias along the Garney-Tawila route. “It represents a trap,” he explains. “Persons journey daily without hydration, and upon arriving there, the militiamen await. They slaughtered 22 men on that spot and removed the corpses to obscure them.”

An additional nurse who ran from South El Fasher hospital after the attack on Sunday stated RSF combatants came in through one gate and began shooting at patients in the emergency ward, killing at least eight. “We fled through another gate, but they hit me on the head with a firearm,” he recounts.

Through a video declaration last Wednesday, the head of the RSF, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, stated that any military personnel or official who breached the rights of any civilian would be punished.

Many of those who escaped El Fasher spent hours concealing themselves near military artillery prior to escaping westward under cover of darkness. Previously displaced households from the city’s Abu Shouk camp were forced to move again, finding shelter in Daraja Oula area prior to ultimately traveling to Tawila.

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