‘They killed civilians in their beds’: disorder and violence dominate after capture of El Fasher

Nawal Khalil had been serving as a healthcare worker for the past three years at El Fasher South hospital after the city fell captured on 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.

“They murdered six wounded military personnel plus civilian patients in their beds – among them female victims,” she states. “The outcome remains unknown for my remaining patients. I was forced to flee as they invaded the hospital.”

The 27-year-old Khalil, was shot in the right foot and upper leg while RSF combatants gained control of the adjacent military command center. She escaped from the city and walked for a day, injured and without food, to reach the town of Garney. “During the journey, they confiscated my phone and money,” she says. “I ended up with nothing.”

In excess of 1,000 persons – featuring females and minors – traveled on foot for two days to reach the town of Tawila located in northern Darfur following their escape from El Fasher, which was seized after an 18-month siege.

Tawila, about 34 miles (55km) west away from El Fasher, is governed by of the SLA-AW group commanded by Abdul Wahid Mohamed al-Nur.

On Tuesday, the collaborative Joint Forces – that cooperate with the Sudanese army – accused the RSF for slaughtering in excess of 2,000 non-combatants following the urban center's takeover. The UN reported there were videos depicting dozens of weaponless men who were shot or found dead, encircled by RSF combatants.”

Contextual Information

Hostilities commenced within Khartoum on 15 April 2023 as a growing contest for power involving the two key groups of the armed forces leadership ultimately became violent.

On one side are the Sudanese armed forces, which maintain general loyalty to Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the nation's actual leader. Opposing him exist the irregular troops of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), an assembly of militia groups who follow the former warlord Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti.

The Rapid Support Forces were first created by the former dictatorial ruler Omar al-Bashir as a pro-Arab counterinsurgency force named the Janjaweed, which quickly became synonymous with widespread atrocities. Back in 2013, Bashir converted the organization into the Rapid Support Forces, sending them to suppress a new uprising in South Darfur.

The fighting has thrown Sudan into among the most severe humanitarian crises in recent history”, as per UN representatives. It has produced the planet's biggest displacement catastrophe, dispersing over 10 million individuals within the country along with 4 million refugees to adjacent nations, generating growing stress upon Chad and South Sudan.

Present Circumstances

According to witnesses, numerous more non-combatants remain trapped by the RSF and allied militias in the Garney area, south-west of El Fasher. Numerous are ex-military personnel belonging to the Sudanese military, the collaborative forces and other armed groups that were previously aligned with the military. Reports indicate they're imprisoned because they cannot afford ransom demands ranging from 5 to 10 million Sudanese pounds (approximately £6,000-£12,000), according to survivors who reached Tawila. Individuals incapable of paying have been held for multiple days, and occasionally let go solely after falling seriously ill.

The SLA-AW has apparently permitted government troops fleeing El Fasher to access Tawila provided they give up their weapons.

The individual Adam Yagoub, twenty-eight years old, a motorist originating from Sennar from central Sudanese regions, closely avoided death subsequent to his seizure by three militiamen on camels in the Garney vicinity.

“They intended to behead me using a knife,” he tells, displaying his arm, that one combatant struck using an AK-47 rifle butt. “Then one of them recognised me – his brother was my colleague – and pleaded with them to spare me. We were 18 people who departed El Fasher collectively, yet merely eight reached Tawila. I assume the others died.”

Yagoub says he observed 22 corpses close to what he described as a fraudulent water source employed by the RSF and allied militias along the Garney-Tawila route. “This is an ambush,” he explains. “People walk all day without water, and when they get to it, the militias are waiting. They slaughtered 22 men on that spot and removed the corpses to conceal them.”

An additional nurse who ran from South El Fasher hospital subsequent to Sunday's offensive reported RSF militiamen penetrated via one entrance and commenced firing upon patients in the ER section, causing at least eight fatalities. “We escaped through a different gate, however they struck my head with a rifle,” he recounts.

In a video statement on Wednesday, the leader of the RSF, Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, called Hemedti, declared that any fighter or commander who infringed upon the rights of any individual would face consequences.

Many of those who escaped El Fasher utilized hours hiding near the army’s artillery unit before running west during nighttime. Already displaced families originating from the urban Abu Shouk settlement were forced to move again, taking asylum in the Daraja Oula district before finally moving toward Tawila.

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