‘They murdered civilians while they slept’: mayhem and cruelty prevail following fall of El Fasher

The volunteer nurse Nawal Khalil had been volunteering as a medical volunteer for three years at El Fasher South hospital as the city became taken over on Sunday by the RSF fighters. She was actively caring for the sick, including an elderly woman who needed a blood transfusion, when the offensive started.

“They killed six wounded soldiers along with civilians in their beds – among them female victims,” she states. “I am unaware of the fate regarding my other patients. I was forced to flee after they raided the medical facility.”

Khalil, 27, was hit by a bullet in her right foot and thigh as RSF fighters took control of the nearby military headquarters. She ran from the urban area and traveled on foot for one day, hurt and lacking sustenance, to arrive at Garney town. “During the journey, they seized my mobile and money,” she says. “I was left with nothing.”

In excess of 1,000 persons – featuring females and minors – journeyed by walking for 48 hours to reach the town of Tawila 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 from El Fasher, is governed by of the SLA-AW group commanded by Abdul Wahid Mohamed al-Nur.

This past Tuesday, the allied Joint Forces – who are allied with Sudan’s army – blamed the RSF of killing more than 2,000 civilians after the city's capture. The UN reported that visual evidence showed depicting dozens of weaponless men who were shot or found dead, with RSF militiamen around them.”

Contextual Information

Conflict erupted within Khartoum on 15 April 2023 when an intensifying power struggle among the two primary factions of the military regime eventually resulted in fatalities.

On one side exist the official Sudanese army, that stay mostly faithful towards General al-Burhan, the country’s de facto ruler. Opposing him stand the paramilitary forces belonging to the RSF, a collection of militias who follow the former warlord General Dagalo, referred to as Hemedti.

The RSF was initially founded by the previous authoritarian leader Bashir's regime as an Arab counterinsurgency militia known as the Janjaweed, which quickly became synonymous with widespread atrocities. During 2013, Bashir reformed the faction into the Rapid Support Forces, sending them to suppress a recent insurrection within South Darfur.

The conflict has plunged Sudan into a terrible humanitarian disaster in recent history”, based on UN statements. It has produced the globe's most severe displacement emergency, forcing more than 10 million persons internally along with 4 million refugees to adjacent nations, putting mounting pressure upon Chad and South Sudan.

Present Circumstances

Based on eyewitness accounts, many additional civilians remain trapped by the RSF and allied militias in the Garney area, in the southwestern direction from El Fasher. Several are previous army members from Sudan's armed forces, the Joint Forces and other militant organizations that had been fighting alongside the army. They are apparently detained since they cannot pay ransom demands ranging from 5 to 10 million Sudanese pounds (£6,000 to £12,000), according to survivors who reached Tawila. Those unable to pay have been detained for days, and occasionally let go solely after developing critical health conditions.

Reports suggest the SLA-AW has authorized army soldiers running from El Fasher to enter Tawila on condition they surrender their weapons.

The individual Adam Yagoub, twenty-eight years old, a motorist originating from Sennar from central Sudanese regions, barely avoided execution subsequent to his seizure by three armed men mounted on camels near Garney.

“They wanted to cut my head off using a knife,” he tells, exhibiting his limb, that one combatant struck with the stock of a Kalashnikov. “Subsequently one identified me – his brother had worked with me – and pleaded with them to spare me. Our group contained 18 individuals who left El Fasher together, yet merely eight reached Tawila. I think the others are dead.”

Yagoub says he saw 22 bodies close to what he described as a fraudulent water source employed by the RSF and associated militias between Garney and Tawila. “It represents a trap,” he explains. “People walk all day without water, and when they reach it, the militias are waiting. They slaughtered 22 men on that spot and carried the bodies off to obscure them.”

An additional nurse who ran from South El Fasher hospital after the attack on Sunday said RSF fighters entered via one entrance and began shooting at patients in the emergency ward, killing at least eight. “We escaped through a different gate, however they struck my head with a firearm,” he recounts.

Via a recorded message this past Wednesday, the RSF commander, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, referred to as Hemedti, declared that any fighter or officer who had “violated the right of any person” would be held accountable.

Numerous individuals who fled El Fasher utilized hours concealing themselves near military artillery before running west under darkness's protection. Already displaced families originating from the urban Abu Shouk settlement had to displace once more, seeking refuge in the Daraja Oula neighbourhood before eventually heading for Tawila.

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