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A nurse named Nawal Khalil had been serving as a medical volunteer for the past three years at El Fasher South hospital after the city fell seized last Sunday by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). She was actively caring for the sick, among them an older female patient who needed a blood transfusion, as the assault commenced.

“They killed six wounded soldiers along with civilians in their beds – including some women,” she recounts. “I am unaware of the fate to my other patients. I needed to escape after they raided the medical facility.”

Khalil, 27, received a gunshot wound to her right foot and thigh while RSF combatants gained control of the closeby army headquarters. She ran from the urban area and journeyed by foot for 24 hours, injured and without food, to arrive at Garney town. “On the way, they confiscated my phone and currency,” she explains. “I ended up with nothing.”

In excess of 1,000 persons – including women and children – walked for two days to get to the settlement of Tawila in North Darfur following their escape from El Fasher, which fell under control after a year-and-a-half-long siege.

This settlement, approximately 34 miles westward of El Fasher, is under the control of the SLA-AW group under Abdul Wahid Mohamed al-Nur's leadership.

This past Tuesday, the Joint Forces – which partner with Sudan's military – blamed the RSF of killing more than 2,000 civilians after the city's capture. The UN said there were videos featuring numerous unarmed males being shot or lying dead, surrounded by RSF fighters.”

Background Context

Fighting broke out within Khartoum back on April 15, 2023 as an escalating power struggle among the two primary factions within the military government finally turned deadly.

From one perspective stand the Sudanese military forces, who remain broadly loyal to Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the country’s de facto ruler. Against him stand the paramilitary forces of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a gathering of armed factions who follow the former warlord General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti.

The RSF was originally established by the ex-dictator Bashir's regime as an Arab anti-rebellion militia named the Janjaweed, which soon became linked with widespread atrocities. During 2013, Bashir converted the organization to become the RSF, deploying them to crush a fresh rebellion in southern Darfur.

The conflict has plunged Sudan into among the most severe humanitarian crises in recent history”, according to UN officials. It has created the globe's most severe displacement emergency, forcing more than 10 million persons inside the nation along with 4 million refugees into neighbouring countries, putting mounting pressure upon Chad and South Sudan.

Current Situation Updates

Per observer reports, many additional civilians remain trapped by the RSF and partner militias in Garney, southwest from El Fasher. Many are former soldiers from the Sudanese army, the collaborative forces and other armed groups that were previously aligned with the military. Reports indicate they're imprisoned because they cannot afford extortion payments between five and ten million Sudanese pounds (£6,000 to £12,000), according to survivors who made it to Tawila. Those unable to pay have been detained for days, and occasionally released only after developing critical health conditions.

Reports suggest the SLA-AW has authorized government troops fleeing El Fasher to enter Tawila if they relinquish their arms.

Adam Yagoub, twenty-eight years old, a driver from Sennar in central Sudan, closely avoided death subsequent to his seizure by three militiamen on camels in the Garney vicinity.

“They intended to behead me with a knife,” he recounts, displaying his arm, which one militant assaulted with the butt of an AK-47 rifle. “Then one of them recognised me – his brother was my colleague – and pleaded with them to spare me. There were 18 of us who exited El Fasher as a group, but only eight made it to Tawila. I assume the others died.”

Yagoub says he saw 22 bodies in proximity to what he termed a “fake well” employed by the RSF and allied militias along the Garney-Tawila route. “This is an ambush,” he explains. “Individuals travel all day lacking water, and upon arriving there, the militiamen await. They slaughtered 22 men on that spot and removed the corpses to conceal them.”

An additional nurse who escaped El Fasher South hospital after the attack on Sunday said RSF fighters entered through one gate and opened fire on patients in the ER section, murdering no less than eight. “We fled through another gate, however they struck my head with a rifle,” he says.

In a video statement last Wednesday, the leader of the RSF, Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, called Hemedti, said that any soldier or official who breached the rights of any civilian would be punished.

Many of those who escaped El Fasher spent hours taking cover close to army artillery positions before fleeing west under darkness's protection. Previously displaced households from Abu Shouk camp in the city were compelled to relocate 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