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Nawal Khalil had been working as a healthcare worker for the past three years at El Fasher South hospital after the city fell seized last Sunday by the RSF fighters. She was actively caring for the sick, among them an older female patient requiring a blood transfusion, when the offensive started.

“Six injured soldiers were killed plus civilian patients in their beds – including some women,” she states. “I don’t know what happened for my remaining patients. I had to run as they invaded the hospital.”

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 escaped from the city and journeyed by foot for 24 hours, injured and without food, to arrive at Garney town. “On the way, they confiscated my phone and money,” she says. “I was left with nothing.”

In excess of 1,000 persons – comprising women and children – walked for two days to reach the town of Tawila within North Darfur after fleeing El Fasher, which was captured after an 18-month siege.

The town of Tawila, approximately 34 miles westward from 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 – who are allied with Sudan’s army – charged the RSF with murdering over 2,000 civilians following the urban center's takeover. The UN reported that footage existed featuring numerous unarmed males being shot or lying dead, with RSF militiamen around them.”

Historical Background

Conflict erupted within Khartoum on 15 April 2023 as a growing contest for power among the two primary factions within the military government ultimately became violent.

From one perspective exist the official Sudanese army, which maintain general loyalty to General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the de facto head of state. Opposing him are the paramilitaries of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a collection of militias that obey the former warlord General Dagalo, called Hemedti.

The RSF was initially founded by the ex-dictator Bashir's regime as a pro-Arab counterinsurgency force known as the Janjaweed, which soon became linked with massive human rights violations. In 2013, Bashir reformed the faction into the Rapid Support Forces, sending them to suppress a recent insurrection in South Darfur.

The conflict has plunged Sudan into “one of the worst humanitarian nightmares in contemporary history, as per UN representatives. It has created the globe's most severe displacement emergency, scattering more than 10 million people inside the nation along with 4 million refugees to bordering states, creating increasing strain on both Chad and South Sudan.

Present Circumstances

According to witnesses, many additional civilians continue to be held by the RSF and associated armed groups in the Garney area, south-west of El Fasher. Several are previous army members belonging to the Sudanese military, the Joint Forces plus additional armed factions which had been combatting together with the army. They are reportedly being held as they lack funds for ransom demands ranging from 5 to 10 million Sudanese pounds (around six to twelve thousand pounds), per those who escaped who made it to Tawila. People who cannot afford payment remain imprisoned for several days, and in some cases released only after falling seriously ill.

Reports suggest the SLA-AW has authorized military personnel escaping El Fasher to access Tawila if they relinquish their arms.

The individual Adam Yagoub, 28, a driver from Sennar in central Sudan, closely avoided death following his capture by three militiamen on camels close to Garney.

“They intended to behead me with a knife,” he recounts, exhibiting his limb, which one of the fighters hit with the stock of a Kalashnikov. “Then one of them recognised me – his brother had worked with me – and urged them not to execute me. Our group contained 18 individuals who departed El Fasher collectively, but only eight made it to Tawila. I believe the remainder perished.”

Yagoub states he saw 22 bodies in proximity to what he termed a deceptive well used by the RSF and associated militias along the Garney-Tawila route. “It’s a trap,” he explains. “People walk all day without water, and upon arriving there, the militias are waiting. They slaughtered 22 men on that spot and carried the bodies off to obscure them.”

An additional nurse who escaped El Fasher South hospital subsequent to Sunday's offensive said RSF fighters entered through one gate and began shooting at patients within the emergency department, killing at least eight. “We escaped through a different gate, however they struck my head using a rifle,” he recounts.

In a video statement this past Wednesday, the leader of the RSF, General Dagalo, called Hemedti, declared that any fighter or official who breached the rights of any civilian would be punished.

Numerous individuals who fled from El Fasher passed hours taking cover close to army artillery positions prior to escaping westward under cover of darkness. Already displaced families from Abu Shouk camp in the city were forced to move again, taking asylum in the Daraja Oula district prior to ultimately traveling to Tawila.

Individuals seized by the RSF in Garney were reportedly given {water mixed with flour|flour