‘They murdered civilians while they slept’: disorder and violence reign after capture of El Fasher

The volunteer nurse Nawal Khalil had been serving as a medical volunteer over a three-year period within the South El Fasher hospital when the city was taken over on Sunday by RSF paramilitaries. She was actively caring for the sick, among them an older female patient in need of a transfusion, when the offensive started.

“They killed six wounded soldiers along with civilians in their beds – including some women,” she recounts. “I don’t know what happened to my other 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 as RSF fighters took control of the closeby army headquarters. She ran from the urban area and journeyed by foot for 24 hours, injured and without food, to get to the settlement of Garney. “During the journey, they confiscated my phone and cash,” she describes. “I was left with nothing.”

More than 1,000 people – comprising women and children – journeyed by walking for 48 hours to get to the settlement of Tawila within North Darfur after running from El Fasher, which was captured after an 18-month siege.

The town of Tawila, about 34 miles (55km) west from El Fasher, is governed by of the SLA-AW group 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 since the fall of the city. The UN said that visual evidence showed featuring numerous unarmed males who were shot or found dead, with RSF militiamen around them.”

Historical Background

Conflict erupted in Sudan's capital back on April 15, 2023 as a growing contest for power among the two primary factions of the military regime eventually resulted in fatalities.

Among the combatants stand the Sudanese military forces, who remain broadly loyal to Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the nation's actual leader. Against him exist the irregular troops of the RSF paramilitary group, a collection of militias which support the ex-warlord Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, called Hemedti.

The Rapid Support Forces were first created by the ex-dictator Omar al-Bashir as an Arab counterinsurgency militia called the Janjaweed, which quickly became synonymous with extensive brutalities. Back in 2013, Bashir reformed the faction to become the RSF, deploying them to crush a new uprising in southern Darfur.

The war has pushed Sudan into a terrible humanitarian disaster in contemporary history, based on UN statements. It has created the planet's biggest displacement catastrophe, forcing more than 10 million persons internally and 4 million who have fled to bordering states, putting mounting pressure on both Chad and South Sudan.

Present Circumstances

Per observer reports, many additional civilians stay confined by RSF forces and partner militias in Garney, southwest from El Fasher. Many are former soldiers from the Sudanese army, the allied Joint Forces plus additional armed factions that had been fighting alongside the army. Reports indicate they're imprisoned since they cannot pay extortion payments between five and ten million Sudanese pounds (approximately £6,000-£12,000), based on survivor accounts who reached Tawila. People who cannot afford payment remain imprisoned for several days, and sometimes let go solely after becoming gravely ill.

Reports suggest the SLA-AW has authorized military personnel escaping El Fasher to access Tawila on condition they surrender their weapons.

The individual Adam Yagoub, aged 28, a motorist originating from Sennar in central Sudan, barely avoided execution subsequent to his seizure by three militiamen on camels close to Garney.

“They intended to behead me with a knife,” he informs, exhibiting his limb, which one of the fighters hit with the stock of a Kalashnikov. “Afterward one remembered me – his brother had worked with me – and begged them not to kill me. Our group contained 18 individuals who departed El Fasher collectively, yet merely eight reached Tawila. I believe the remainder perished.”

Yagoub states he observed 22 corpses close to what he described as a deceptive well employed by the RSF and allied militias along the Garney-Tawila route. “It’s a trap,” he explains. “Persons journey daily without hydration, and when they reach it, the militiamen await. They murdered 22 males at that location and took the bodies away to obscure them.”

An additional nurse who fled the El Fasher South medical facility subsequent to Sunday's offensive reported RSF militiamen penetrated via one entrance and commenced firing upon patients in the ER section, killing at least eight. “We fled through another gate, however they struck my head with a firearm,” he says.

Through a video declaration this past Wednesday, the leader of the RSF, General Dagalo, referred to as Hemedti, said that any soldier or official who breached the rights of any individual would face consequences.

Several people who got away from El Fasher passed hours hiding near the army’s artillery unit before running west under cover of darkness. Already displaced families from the city’s Abu Shouk camp were forced to move again, taking asylum in the Daraja Oula district prior to ultimately traveling to Tawila.

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