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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 seized last Sunday by RSF paramilitaries. She was busy treating patients, among them an older female patient requiring a blood transfusion, when the attack began.

“They murdered six wounded military personnel along with civilians in their beds – among them female victims,” she states. “I am unaware of the fate to my other patients. I had to run after they raided the medical facility.”

Khalil, aged 27, was shot in the right foot and thigh during the RSF's seizure of the nearby military headquarters. She ran from the urban area and traveled on foot for one day, hurt and lacking sustenance, to arrive at Garney town. “Along the route, they took my phone and currency,” she says. “I was left with nothing.”

Over a thousand individuals – including women and children – journeyed by walking for 48 hours to reach the town of Tawila in North Darfur after fleeing El Fasher, which was captured following an 18-month blockade.

Tawila, about 34 miles (55km) west of El Fasher, is under the control of the Sudan Liberation Army faction commanded by Abdul Wahid Mohamed al-Nur.

On Tuesday, the allied Joint Forces – who are allied with Sudan’s army – blamed the RSF of killing more than 2,000 civilians following the urban center's takeover. The UN said there were videos showing “dozens of unarmed men who were shot or found dead, with RSF militiamen around them.”

Contextual Information

Fighting broke out within Khartoum during April of 2023 as an escalating power struggle between the two main factions within the military government eventually resulted in fatalities.

From one perspective exist the official Sudanese army, that stay mostly faithful towards General al-Burhan, the country’s de facto ruler. Opposing him stand the paramilitary forces belonging to the RSF, a collection of militias who follow the former warlord General Dagalo, referred to as Hemedti.

The RSF was originally established by the ex-dictator Bashir's regime as an Arab counterinsurgency militia called the Janjaweed, which quickly became synonymous with extensive brutalities. Back in 2013, Bashir transformed the group to become the RSF, sending them to suppress a recent insurrection in South Darfur.

The war has pushed Sudan into “one of the worst humanitarian nightmares in modern times, according to UN officials. It has produced the world’s worst displacement crisis, scattering more than 10 million people internally along with 4 million refugees into neighbouring countries, generating growing stress upon 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. Numerous are ex-military personnel from Sudan's armed forces, the Joint Forces and other militant organizations which had been combatting together with the army. They are reportedly being held since they cannot pay extortion payments ranging from 5 to 10 million Sudanese pounds (around six to twelve thousand pounds), per those who escaped who made it to Tawila. Those unable to pay remain imprisoned for several days, and sometimes freed only when falling seriously ill.

The SLA-AW has apparently permitted government troops fleeing El Fasher to come into Tawila if they relinquish their arms.

The individual Adam Yagoub, 28, a chauffeur from Sennar from central Sudanese regions, barely avoided execution subsequent to his seizure by three camel-riding militiamen close to Garney.

“They planned to decapitate me with a blade,” he tells, displaying his arm, that one combatant struck using an AK-47 rifle butt. “Afterward one remembered me – his sibling had collaborated with me – and begged them not to kill me. There were 18 of us who left El Fasher together, however just eight arrived in Tawila. I assume the others died.”

Yagoub states he witnessed 22 deceased individuals close to what he described as a “fake well” utilized by RSF forces and allied militias in the area connecting Garney and Tawila. “It represents a trap,” he says. “Individuals travel all day lacking water, and upon arriving there, the militiamen await. They murdered 22 males at that location and carried the bodies off to hide them.”

Another nurse who fled the El Fasher South medical facility following Sunday's assault stated RSF combatants came in via one entrance and commenced firing upon patients within the emergency department, killing at least eight. “We escaped through a different gate, yet they assaulted my head using a rifle,” 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 individual would face consequences.

Several people who got away El Fasher utilized hours concealing themselves near military artillery prior to escaping westward during nighttime. Previously displaced households originating from the urban Abu Shouk settlement were forced to move again, seeking refuge in the Daraja Oula neighbourhood prior to ultimately traveling to Tawila.

Those captured by the RSF within Garney reportedly received {water mixed with flour|flour