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Nawal Khalil had been serving as a healthcare worker for three years in the El Fasher South medical facility when the city was captured on Sunday by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). She was busy treating patients, including an elderly woman requiring a blood transfusion, as the assault commenced.

“They killed six wounded soldiers plus civilian patients in their beds – among them female victims,” she recounts. “I am unaware of the fate for my remaining patients. I had to run when they stormed the hospital.”

Khalil, aged 27, was hit by a bullet in her right foot and her thigh during the RSF's seizure of the nearby military headquarters. She ran from the urban area and traveled on foot for one day, injured and without food, to arrive at Garney town. “On the way, they confiscated my phone and money,” she describes. “I was left with nothing.”

More than 1,000 people – featuring females and minors – traveled on foot for two days to arrive at Tawila town within North Darfur following their escape from El Fasher, which was captured following an 18-month blockade.

The town of Tawila, about 34 miles (55km) west of El Fasher, remains under the authority of the SLA-AW group commanded by Abdul Wahid Mohamed al-Nur.

This past Tuesday, the collaborative Joint Forces – which partner with Sudan's military – blamed the RSF with murdering over 2,000 civilians since the fall of the city. The UN reported 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 an escalating power struggle involving the two key groups of the armed forces leadership ultimately became violent.

From one perspective stand the Sudanese military forces, which maintain general loyalty to Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the country’s de facto ruler. Against him are the paramilitaries of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a collection of militias that obey the former warlord General Dagalo, called Hemedti.

The Rapid Support Forces were first created by the ex-dictator Bashir's regime as an Arab counterinsurgency militia called the Janjaweed, that rapidly became associated with massive human rights violations. During 2013, Bashir transformed the group into the Rapid Support Forces, using them to quell a new uprising in South Darfur.

The fighting has thrown Sudan into “one of the worst humanitarian nightmares in recent history”, as per UN representatives. It has produced the globe's most severe displacement emergency, forcing more than 10 million persons internally plus 4 million who escaped to bordering states, generating growing stress on both Chad and South Sudan.

Current Situation Updates

Based on eyewitness accounts, many additional civilians remain trapped by the RSF and associated armed groups in the Garney area, in the southwestern direction from El Fasher. Numerous are ex-military personnel from the Sudanese army, the collaborative forces plus additional armed factions that were previously aligned with the military. They are apparently detained as they lack funds for ransom demands ranging from 5 to 10 million Sudanese pounds (around six to twelve thousand pounds), according to survivors who reached Tawila. Those unable to pay have been detained for days, and occasionally freed only when developing critical health conditions.

Reports suggest the SLA-AW has authorized government troops fleeing El Fasher to access Tawila provided they give up their weapons.

Adam Yagoub, twenty-eight years old, a chauffeur from Sennar within central Sudan, barely avoided execution subsequent to his seizure by three armed men mounted on camels in the Garney vicinity.

“They wanted to cut my head off with a knife,” he tells, displaying his arm, that one combatant struck with the butt of an AK-47 rifle. “Afterward one remembered me – his brother was my colleague – and begged them not to kill me. Our group contained 18 individuals who exited El Fasher as a group, but only eight made it to Tawila. I assume the others died.”

Yagoub reports he witnessed 22 deceased individuals near what he called a “fake well” utilized by RSF forces and partner armed groups along the Garney-Tawila route. “It’s a trap,” he comments. “Individuals travel all day lacking water, and when they reach it, the militias are waiting. They murdered 22 males at that location and took the bodies away to obscure them.”

A different medical worker who fled the El Fasher South medical facility after the attack on Sunday said RSF fighters entered via one entrance and commenced firing upon patients in the emergency ward, killing at least eight. “We escaped through a different gate, yet they assaulted my head with a firearm,” he states.

Via a recorded message on Wednesday, the head of the RSF, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, called Hemedti, said that any soldier or commander who infringed upon the rights of any civilian would be punished.

Several people who got away El Fasher spent hours taking cover close to army artillery positions prior to escaping westward under cover of darkness. Previously displaced households from the city’s Abu Shouk camp had to displace once more, seeking refuge in the Daraja Oula neighbourhood prior to ultimately traveling to Tawila.

Individuals seized by the RSF in Garney were apparently provided {water mixed with flour|flour