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Nawal Khalil had been volunteering as a nurse over a three-year period at El Fasher South hospital when the city was seized last Sunday by RSF paramilitaries. She was actively caring for the sick, among them an older female patient in need of a transfusion, when the attack began.

“They murdered six wounded military personnel and civilians in their beds – some of them women,” she states. “The outcome remains unknown regarding my other patients. I was forced to flee when they stormed the hospital.”

Khalil, 27, received a gunshot wound to her right foot and upper leg during the RSF's seizure of the nearby military headquarters. She escaped from the city and journeyed by foot for 24 hours, hurt and lacking sustenance, to get to the settlement of Garney. “Along the route, they took my phone and money,” she describes. “I ended up with nothing.”

More than 1,000 people – including women and children – traveled on foot for two days to reach the town of Tawila in North Darfur after fleeing El Fasher, which was seized after a year-and-a-half-long siege.

The town of Tawila, about 34 miles (55km) west from El Fasher, remains under the authority of the SLA-AW group under Abdul Wahid Mohamed al-Nur's leadership.

On Tuesday, the collaborative Joint Forces – who are allied with Sudan’s army – accused the RSF for slaughtering in excess of 2,000 non-combatants after the city's capture. United Nations officials stated that footage existed depicting dozens of weaponless men either being shot or deceased, surrounded by RSF fighters.”

Background Context

Fighting broke out within Khartoum during April of 2023 when an intensifying power struggle involving the two key groups within the military government ultimately became violent.

Among the combatants stand the Sudanese military forces, that stay mostly faithful to General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the nation's actual leader. Challenging him are the paramilitaries of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a collection of militias who follow the former warlord General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, referred to as Hemedti.

The RSF was originally established by the former dictatorial ruler Bashir's regime as an Arab anti-rebellion militia known as the Janjaweed, that rapidly became associated with massive human rights violations. During 2013, Bashir transformed the group into the Rapid Support Forces, deploying them to crush a new uprising within South Darfur.

The war has pushed Sudan into a terrible humanitarian disaster in recent history”, as per UN representatives. It has produced the globe's most severe displacement emergency, scattering more than 10 million people inside the nation plus 4 million who escaped to bordering states, creating increasing strain on Chad and South Sudan.

Current Situation Updates

Based on eyewitness accounts, many additional civilians stay confined by RSF forces and allied militias within Garney, southwest from El Fasher. Several are previous army members belonging to the Sudanese military, the allied Joint Forces and other armed groups that were previously aligned with the military. They are reportedly being held as they lack funds for 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 in some cases freed only when falling seriously ill.

The SLA-AW has reportedly allowed military personnel escaping El Fasher to come into Tawila if they relinquish their arms.

A man named Adam Yagoub, twenty-eight years old, a motorist originating from Sennar from central Sudanese regions, closely avoided death subsequent to his seizure by three camel-riding militiamen near Garney.

“They wanted to cut my head off with a knife,” he tells, displaying his arm, which one of the fighters hit using an AK-47 rifle butt. “Then one of them recognised me – his brother had worked with me – and begged them not to kill me. Our group contained 18 individuals who left El Fasher together, however just eight arrived in Tawila. I assume the others died.”

Yagoub says he observed 22 corpses in proximity to what he termed a deceptive well employed by the RSF and partner armed groups between Garney and Tawila. “It represents a trap,” he comments. “People walk all day without water, and upon arriving there, the armed groups lie in wait. They slaughtered 22 men on that spot and removed the corpses to conceal them.”

Another nurse who ran from South El Fasher hospital following Sunday's assault stated RSF combatants came in through one gate and commenced firing upon patients in the emergency ward, causing at least eight fatalities. “We ran out via another entrance, yet they assaulted my head using a rifle,” he says.

Via a recorded message last Wednesday, the head of the RSF, General Dagalo, known as Hemedti, said that any soldier or official who breached the rights of any individual would face consequences.

Several people who got away El Fasher utilized hours taking cover close to army artillery positions prior to escaping westward under cover of darkness. Previously displaced households originating from the urban Abu Shouk settlement were forced to move again, taking asylum in the Daraja Oula district before eventually heading for Tawila.

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