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The volunteer nurse Nawal Khalil had been volunteering as a healthcare worker for three years within the South El Fasher hospital after the city fell taken over on Sunday by the RSF fighters. She was actively caring for the sick, including an elderly woman in need of a transfusion, when the attack began.

“They murdered six wounded military personnel and civilians in their beds – including some women,” she recounts. “I am unaware of the fate for my remaining patients. I needed to escape 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 adjacent military command center. She escaped from the city and walked for a day, hurt and lacking sustenance, to arrive at Garney town. “Along the route, they took my phone and money,” she explains. “I possessed nothing remaining.”

More than 1,000 people – including women and children – traveled on foot for two days to get to the settlement of Tawila located in northern Darfur following their escape from El Fasher, which was seized after a year-and-a-half-long siege.

This settlement, approximately 34 miles westward away from El Fasher, is under the control by the SLA faction led by Abdul Wahid Mohamed al-Nur (SLA-AW).

On Tuesday, the allied Joint Forces – which partner with Sudan's military – accused the RSF of killing more than 2,000 civilians following the urban center's takeover. United Nations officials stated that footage existed depicting dozens of weaponless men being shot or lying dead, surrounded by RSF fighters.”

Historical Background

Conflict erupted in Sudan's capital during April of 2023 as an escalating power struggle involving the two key groups within the military government eventually resulted in fatalities.

Among the combatants exist the official Sudanese army, who remain broadly loyal towards General al-Burhan, the nation's actual leader. Opposing him stand the paramilitary forces belonging to the RSF, a gathering of armed factions that obey the former warlord General Dagalo, called Hemedti.

The RSF was originally established by the former dictatorial ruler Omar al-Bashir himself as an Arab anti-rebellion militia known as the Janjaweed, that rapidly became associated with extensive brutalities. Back in 2013, Bashir reformed the faction to become the RSF, deploying them to crush a new uprising in South Darfur.

The war has pushed Sudan into among the most severe humanitarian crises in recent history”, according to UN officials. It has created the world’s worst displacement crisis, forcing more than 10 million persons internally along with 4 million refugees into neighbouring countries, putting mounting pressure on Chad and South Sudan.

Ongoing Developments

According to witnesses, numerous more non-combatants continue to be held by the RSF and allied militias in Garney, in the southwestern direction from El Fasher. Many are former soldiers from the Sudanese army, the Joint Forces and other militant organizations that had been fighting alongside the army. Reports indicate they're imprisoned because they cannot afford ransom demands of between 5m and 10m Sudanese pounds (approximately £6,000-£12,000), based on survivor accounts who arrived in Tawila. Those unable to pay remain imprisoned for several days, and occasionally let go solely after falling seriously ill.

Reports suggest the SLA-AW has authorized army soldiers running from El Fasher to enter Tawila if they relinquish their arms.

The individual Adam Yagoub, twenty-eight years old, a chauffeur from Sennar from central Sudanese regions, closely avoided death after being captured by three camel-riding militiamen near Garney.

“They planned to decapitate me using a knife,” he recounts, showing his arm, which one of the fighters hit with the stock of a Kalashnikov. “Then one of them recognised me – his sibling had collaborated with me – and begged them not to kill me. Our group contained 18 individuals who left El Fasher together, however just eight arrived in Tawila. I assume the others died.”

Yagoub says he observed 22 corpses near what he called a “fake well” employed by the RSF and associated militias between Garney and Tawila. “It’s a trap,” he comments. “Persons journey daily without hydration, and when they get to it, the militiamen await. They killed 22 men there and carried the bodies off to hide them.”

An additional nurse who ran from South El Fasher hospital subsequent to Sunday's offensive reported RSF militiamen penetrated through one gate and commenced firing upon patients in the ER section, murdering no less than eight. “We fled through another gate, but they hit me on the head with a rifle,” he recounts.

Via a recorded message last 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 El Fasher utilized hours taking cover close to army artillery positions before fleeing west under darkness's protection. Already displaced families originating from the urban Abu Shouk settlement were compelled to relocate again, taking asylum in the Daraja Oula district before eventually heading for Tawila.

People apprehended by RSF forces in Garney were apparently provided {water mixed with flour|flour