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A nurse named Nawal Khalil had been volunteering as a medical volunteer over a three-year period in the El Fasher South medical facility when the city was captured on Sunday by the RSF fighters. 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 – some of them women,” she says. “I don’t know what happened regarding my other patients. I was forced to flee as they invaded the hospital.”

Khalil, 27, was hit by a bullet in her right foot and upper leg while RSF combatants gained control of the adjacent military command center. She ran from the urban area and journeyed by foot for 24 hours, injured and without food, to reach the town of Garney. “On the way, they took my phone and cash,” she says. “I possessed nothing remaining.”

In excess of 1,000 persons – including women and children – journeyed by walking for 48 hours to reach the town of Tawila located in northern Darfur after fleeing El Fasher, which fell under control after a year-and-a-half-long siege.

This settlement, around 55 kilometers to the west of El Fasher, is governed by of the SLA-AW group led by Abdul Wahid Mohamed al-Nur (SLA-AW).

Last Tuesday, the allied Joint Forces – which partner with Sudan's military – blamed the RSF of killing more than 2,000 civilians following the urban center's takeover. The UN reported that visual evidence showed showing “dozens of unarmed men who were shot or found dead, encircled by RSF combatants.”

Historical Background

Fighting broke out in Sudan's capital back on April 15, 2023 as an escalating power struggle involving the two key groups within the military government ultimately became violent.

Among the combatants exist the official Sudanese army, which maintain general loyalty to Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the de facto head of state. Against him exist the irregular troops of the RSF paramilitary group, a gathering of armed factions that obey the former warlord Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, referred to as Hemedti.

The RSF was originally established by the former dictatorial ruler Omar al-Bashir himself as an Arab anti-rebellion militia named the Janjaweed, that rapidly became associated with extensive brutalities. In 2013, Bashir converted the organization into the RSF, deploying them to crush a new uprising in southern Darfur.

The conflict has plunged Sudan into a terrible humanitarian disaster in modern times, as per UN representatives. It has produced the globe's most severe displacement emergency, forcing more than 10 million persons within the country plus 4 million who escaped to bordering states, creating increasing strain upon Chad and South Sudan.

Present Circumstances

Per observer reports, many additional civilians remain trapped by the RSF and allied militias in the Garney area, in the southwestern direction from El Fasher. Numerous are ex-military personnel belonging to the Sudanese military, the Joint Forces and other armed groups that were previously aligned with the military. They are reportedly being held as they lack funds for ransom demands between five and ten million Sudanese pounds (around six to twelve thousand pounds), based on survivor accounts who made it to Tawila. Individuals incapable of paying have been detained for days, and occasionally released only after developing critical health conditions.

Reports suggest the SLA-AW has authorized government troops fleeing El Fasher to enter Tawila on condition they surrender their weapons.

The individual Adam Yagoub, aged 28, a chauffeur from Sennar from central Sudanese regions, closely avoided death subsequent to his seizure by three militiamen on camels in the Garney vicinity.

“They planned to decapitate me with a blade,” he informs, displaying his arm, which one of the fighters hit with the stock of a Kalashnikov. “Subsequently one identified me – his brother had worked with me – and begged them not to kill me. We were 18 people who exited El Fasher as a group, yet merely eight reached Tawila. I think the others are dead.”

Yagoub says he saw 22 bodies in proximity to what he termed a fraudulent water source employed by the RSF and partner armed groups along the Garney-Tawila route. “It’s a trap,” he explains. “People walk all day without water, and when they get to it, the militias are waiting. They slaughtered 22 men on that spot and removed the corpses to hide them.”

Another nurse who ran from South El Fasher hospital following Sunday's assault said RSF fighters entered via one entrance and commenced firing upon patients in the ER section, murdering no less than eight. “We escaped through a different gate, yet they assaulted my head with a rifle,” he states.

Through a video declaration this past Wednesday, the leader of the RSF, Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, declared that any fighter or commander who infringed upon the rights of any civilian would be punished.

Many of those who escaped from El Fasher passed hours hiding near the army’s artillery unit before fleeing west under darkness's protection. Previously displaced households from Abu Shouk camp in the city were compelled to relocate 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