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The volunteer nurse Nawal Khalil had been working as a nurse for the past three years at El Fasher South hospital as the city became taken over on Sunday by the RSF fighters. She was actively caring for the sick, among them an older female patient in need of a transfusion, when the attack began.

“They killed six wounded soldiers along with civilians in their beds – some of them women,” she states. “I don’t know what happened for my remaining patients. I had to run when they stormed the hospital.”

The 27-year-old Khalil, received a gunshot wound to her right foot and thigh during the RSF's seizure of the nearby military 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 took my phone and cash,” she says. “I possessed nothing remaining.”

More than 1,000 people – comprising women and children – journeyed by walking for 48 hours to reach the town of Tawila located in northern Darfur after fleeing El Fasher, which fell under control after a year-and-a-half-long siege.

This settlement, about 34 miles (55km) west away from El Fasher, is governed by of the Sudan Liberation Army faction led by Abdul Wahid Mohamed al-Nur (SLA-AW).

Last Tuesday, the Joint Forces – that cooperate with the Sudanese army – charged the RSF of killing more than 2,000 civilians following the urban center's takeover. United Nations officials stated that footage existed featuring numerous unarmed males who were shot or found dead, surrounded by RSF fighters.”

Contextual Information

Conflict erupted in Sudan's capital during April of 2023 as a growing contest for power between the two main factions within the military government eventually resulted in fatalities.

On one side exist the official Sudanese army, which maintain general loyalty to Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the country’s de facto ruler. Opposing him are the paramilitaries of the RSF paramilitary group, a collection of militias who follow the former warlord General Dagalo, called Hemedti.

The RSF was originally established by the ex-dictator Omar al-Bashir himself as an Arab counterinsurgency militia known as the Janjaweed, that rapidly became associated with widespread atrocities. During 2013, Bashir converted the organization to become the RSF, deploying them to crush a recent insurrection in South Darfur.

The fighting has thrown Sudan into “one of the worst humanitarian nightmares in contemporary history, as per UN representatives. It has created the planet's biggest displacement catastrophe, scattering more than 10 million people internally plus 4 million who escaped to adjacent nations, generating growing stress on Chad and South Sudan.

Current Situation Updates

According to witnesses, many additional civilians stay confined by RSF forces and allied militias in Garney, south-west of El Fasher. Many are former soldiers from Sudan's armed forces, the allied Joint Forces and other armed groups that had been fighting alongside the army. They are apparently detained because they cannot afford ransom demands ranging from 5 to 10 million Sudanese pounds (£6,000 to £12,000), based on survivor accounts who made it to Tawila. People who cannot afford payment have been held for multiple days, and sometimes freed only when becoming gravely ill.

The SLA-AW has apparently permitted army soldiers running from El Fasher to come into Tawila provided they give up their weapons.

The individual Adam Yagoub, aged 28, a driver from Sennar within central Sudan, barely avoided execution subsequent to his seizure by three militiamen on camels in the Garney vicinity.

“They wanted to cut my head off with a knife,” he recounts, showing his arm, which one militant assaulted using an AK-47 rifle butt. “Afterward one remembered me – his brother was my colleague – and pleaded with them to spare me. We were 18 people who exited El Fasher as a group, but only eight made it to Tawila. I believe the remainder perished.”

Yagoub says he witnessed 22 deceased individuals near what he called a deceptive well utilized by RSF forces and partner armed groups in the area connecting Garney and Tawila. “It’s a trap,” he comments. “Individuals travel all day lacking water, and upon arriving there, the militiamen await. They slaughtered 22 men on that spot and took the bodies away to obscure them.”

Another nurse who escaped El Fasher South hospital subsequent to Sunday's offensive said RSF fighters entered via one entrance and commenced firing upon patients within the emergency department, causing at least eight fatalities. “We ran out via another entrance, however they struck my head with a rifle,” he says.

In a video statement on Wednesday, the head of the RSF, Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, called Hemedti, stated that any military personnel or commander who infringed upon the rights of any civilian would be punished.

Many of those who escaped El Fasher spent hours taking cover close to army artillery positions prior to escaping westward under cover of darkness. Previously displaced households from Abu Shouk camp in the city were forced to move again, seeking refuge in the Daraja Oula neighbourhood before eventually heading for Tawila.

Individuals seized by the RSF within Garney reportedly received {water mixed with flour|flour