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A nurse named Nawal Khalil had been volunteering as a healthcare worker for three years at El Fasher South hospital after the city fell seized last Sunday by RSF paramilitaries. She was busy treating patients, featuring one senior woman who needed a blood transfusion, as the assault commenced.

“They killed six wounded soldiers plus civilian patients in their beds – including some women,” she states. “I don’t know what happened for my remaining patients. I needed to escape after they raided the medical facility.”

The 27-year-old Khalil, received a gunshot wound to her right foot and thigh during the RSF's seizure of the closeby army headquarters. She fled the city and journeyed by foot for 24 hours, wounded and without nourishment, to get to the settlement of Garney. “Along the route, they confiscated my phone and money,” she says. “I was left with nothing.”

Over a thousand individuals – featuring females and minors – walked for two days to reach the town of Tawila located in northern Darfur after running from El Fasher, which was captured following an 18-month blockade.

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

This past Tuesday, the collaborative Joint Forces – that cooperate with the Sudanese army – blamed the RSF for slaughtering in excess of 2,000 non-combatants since the fall of the city. United Nations officials stated there were videos featuring numerous unarmed males being shot or lying dead, surrounded by RSF fighters.”

Contextual Information

Conflict erupted in Khartoum during April of 2023 as a growing contest for power involving the two key groups of the armed forces leadership ultimately became violent.

Among the combatants exist the official Sudanese army, that stay mostly faithful towards General al-Burhan, the nation's actual leader. Challenging him are the paramilitaries of the RSF paramilitary group, a gathering of armed factions which support the ex-warlord General Dagalo, known as Hemedti.

The RSF was initially founded by the previous authoritarian leader Bashir's regime as an Arab anti-rebellion militia called the Janjaweed, which quickly became synonymous with extensive brutalities. During 2013, Bashir transformed the group into the RSF, using them to quell a new uprising within South Darfur.

The fighting has thrown Sudan into “one of the worst humanitarian nightmares in modern times, as per UN representatives. It has created the planet's biggest displacement catastrophe, forcing more than 10 million persons internally and 4 million who have fled into neighbouring countries, creating increasing strain on Chad and South Sudan.

Current Situation Updates

Per observer reports, many additional civilians continue to be held by the RSF and partner militias in the Garney area, in the southwestern direction from El Fasher. Several are previous army members from Sudan's armed forces, the collaborative forces and other armed groups 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 (around six to twelve thousand pounds), based on survivor accounts who arrived in Tawila. Those unable to pay have been detained for days, and in some cases released only after falling seriously ill.

The SLA-AW has reportedly allowed army soldiers running from El Fasher to enter Tawila if they relinquish their arms.

The individual Adam Yagoub, 28, a driver from Sennar from central Sudanese regions, barely avoided execution following his capture by three camel-riding militiamen near Garney.

“They intended to behead me with a blade,” he recounts, displaying his arm, which one of the fighters hit with the butt of an AK-47 rifle. “Subsequently one identified me – his sibling had collaborated with me – and urged them not to execute me. We were 18 people who departed El Fasher collectively, yet merely eight reached Tawila. I think the others are dead.”

Yagoub states he observed 22 corpses near what he called a fraudulent water source used by the RSF and associated militias between Garney and Tawila. “It represents a trap,” he comments. “People walk all day without water, and upon arriving there, the militiamen await. They killed 22 men there and carried the bodies off to obscure them.”

An additional nurse who fled the El Fasher South medical facility following Sunday's assault reported RSF militiamen penetrated via one entrance and began shooting at patients in the ER section, killing at least eight. “We fled through another gate, however they struck my head with a firearm,” he recounts.

In a video statement this past Wednesday, the RSF commander, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, called Hemedti, declared that any fighter or commander who infringed upon the rights of any civilian would be punished.

Numerous individuals who fled El Fasher spent hours concealing themselves near military artillery prior to escaping westward under darkness's protection. Previously displaced households from Abu Shouk camp in the city had to displace once more, finding shelter in Daraja Oula area before finally moving toward Tawila.

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