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The volunteer nurse Nawal Khalil had been volunteering as a medical volunteer for the past three years at El Fasher South hospital when the city was captured on Sunday by the RSF fighters. She was actively caring for the sick, among them an older female patient in need of a transfusion, when the attack began.

“They murdered six wounded military personnel and civilians in their beds – among them female victims,” she says. “I don’t know what happened to my other patients. I was forced to flee as they invaded 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 nearby military headquarters. She ran from the urban area and journeyed by foot for 24 hours, injured and without food, to arrive at Garney town. “Along the route, they took my phone and currency,” she explains. “I ended up with nothing.”

Over a thousand individuals – including women and children – walked for two days to arrive at Tawila town within North Darfur following their escape from El Fasher, which fell under control after an 18-month siege.

The town of Tawila, approximately 34 miles westward from El Fasher, is governed by of the Sudan Liberation Army faction led by Abdul Wahid Mohamed al-Nur (SLA-AW).

This past Tuesday, the Joint Forces – that cooperate with the Sudanese army – charged the RSF for slaughtering in excess of 2,000 non-combatants after the city's capture. The UN reported that visual evidence showed showing “dozens of unarmed men either being shot or deceased, surrounded by RSF fighters.”

Historical Background

Fighting broke out in Sudan's capital back on April 15, 2023 as an escalating power struggle involving the two key groups of the military regime finally turned deadly.

From one perspective stand the Sudanese military forces, which maintain general loyalty towards General al-Burhan, the nation's actual leader. Opposing him stand the paramilitary forces belonging to the RSF, an assembly of militia groups that obey the former warlord General Dagalo, referred to as Hemedti.

The Rapid Support Forces were first created by the former dictatorial ruler Omar al-Bashir himself as an Arab counterinsurgency militia named the Janjaweed, which quickly became synonymous with extensive brutalities. In 2013, Bashir converted the organization to become the RSF, sending them to suppress a recent insurrection in South Darfur.

The conflict has plunged Sudan into a terrible humanitarian disaster in contemporary history, according to UN officials. It has created the world’s worst displacement crisis, forcing more than 10 million persons within the country along with 4 million refugees into neighbouring countries, creating increasing strain upon Chad and South Sudan.

Current Situation Updates

Based on eyewitness accounts, numerous more non-combatants remain trapped by the RSF and partner militias in Garney, south-west of El Fasher. Many are former soldiers belonging to the Sudanese military, the Joint Forces and other militant organizations which had been combatting together with the army. They are reportedly being held since they cannot pay ransom demands of between 5m and 10m Sudanese pounds (approximately £6,000-£12,000), per those who escaped who reached Tawila. Individuals incapable of paying remain imprisoned for several days, and in some cases freed only when falling seriously ill.

The SLA-AW has apparently permitted army soldiers running from El Fasher to access Tawila if they relinquish their arms.

Adam Yagoub, 28, a driver from Sennar in central Sudan, narrowly escaped being killed 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, which one of the fighters hit with the butt of an AK-47 rifle. “Afterward one remembered me – his brother was my colleague – and begged them not to kill me. There were 18 of us who departed El Fasher collectively, however just eight arrived in Tawila. I think the others are dead.”

Yagoub says he observed 22 corpses near what he called a deceptive well utilized by RSF forces and partner armed groups between Garney and Tawila. “This is an ambush,” he says. “Individuals travel all day lacking water, and when they reach it, the armed groups lie in wait. They killed 22 men there and took the bodies away to hide them.”

A different medical worker who fled the El Fasher South medical facility after the attack on Sunday reported RSF militiamen penetrated via one entrance and began shooting at patients within the emergency department, causing at least eight fatalities. “We escaped through a different gate, however they struck my head with a rifle,” he states.

Via a recorded message on Wednesday, the RSF commander, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, said that any soldier or official who breached the rights of any individual would face consequences.

Many of those who escaped El Fasher spent hours concealing themselves near military artillery before running west under cover of darkness. Families already uprooted from Abu Shouk camp in the city were forced to move again, seeking refuge in the Daraja Oula neighbourhood before eventually heading for Tawila.

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