‘They murdered civilians while they slept’: mayhem and cruelty reign after fall of El Fasher

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 the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). She was occupied with patient care, featuring one senior woman requiring a blood transfusion, as the assault commenced.

“Six injured soldiers were killed and civilians in their beds – some of them women,” she says. “The outcome remains unknown for my remaining patients. I was forced to flee after they raided the medical facility.”

The 27-year-old Khalil, was hit by a bullet in her right foot and upper leg while RSF combatants gained control of the adjacent military command center. She escaped from the city and traveled on foot for one day, wounded and without nourishment, to arrive at Garney town. “During the journey, they took my phone and money,” she says. “I was left with nothing.”

In excess of 1,000 persons – featuring females and minors – walked for two days to reach the town of Tawila located in northern Darfur following their escape from El Fasher, which was captured after a year-and-a-half-long siege.

Tawila, approximately 34 miles westward away from El Fasher, is under the control by the SLA faction led by Abdul Wahid Mohamed al-Nur (SLA-AW).

On Tuesday, the allied Joint Forces – which partner with Sudan's military – accused the RSF with murdering over 2,000 civilians following the urban center's takeover. United Nations officials stated there were videos featuring numerous unarmed males being shot or lying dead, surrounded by RSF fighters.”

Contextual Information

Hostilities commenced within Khartoum back on April 15, 2023 when an intensifying power struggle among the two primary factions of the armed forces leadership finally turned deadly.

Among the combatants are the Sudanese armed forces, which maintain general loyalty to General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the nation's actual leader. Challenging him exist the irregular troops belonging to the RSF, a gathering of armed factions that obey the former warlord General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti.

The RSF was initially founded by the former dictatorial ruler Bashir's regime as a pro-Arab counterinsurgency force called the Janjaweed, that rapidly became associated with widespread atrocities. Back in 2013, Bashir reformed the faction into the Rapid Support Forces, sending them to suppress a recent insurrection in South Darfur.

The war has pushed Sudan into among the most severe humanitarian crises in contemporary history, according to UN officials. It has produced the world’s worst displacement crisis, scattering more than 10 million people internally along with 4 million refugees into neighbouring countries, creating increasing strain on Chad and South Sudan.

Current Situation Updates

According to witnesses, numerous more non-combatants continue to be held by the RSF and associated armed groups within Garney, south-west of El Fasher. Many are former soldiers from Sudan's armed forces, the collaborative forces and other militant organizations that were previously aligned with the military. They are reportedly being held since they cannot pay ransom requests between five and ten million Sudanese pounds (around six to twelve thousand pounds), based on survivor accounts who arrived in Tawila. Individuals incapable of paying remain imprisoned for several days, and in some cases let go solely after becoming gravely ill.

The SLA-AW has reportedly allowed government troops fleeing El Fasher to access Tawila on condition they surrender their weapons.

A man named Adam Yagoub, aged 28, a chauffeur from Sennar in central Sudan, closely avoided death following his capture by three armed men mounted on camels near Garney.

“They wanted to cut my head off with a knife,” he recounts, displaying his arm, which one militant assaulted with the stock of a Kalashnikov. “Afterward one remembered me – his brother had worked with me – and begged them not to kill me. We were 18 people who departed El Fasher collectively, but only eight made it to Tawila. I assume the others died.”

Yagoub says he witnessed 22 deceased individuals in proximity to what he termed a fraudulent water source employed by the RSF and allied militias along the Garney-Tawila route. “It’s a trap,” he comments. “Individuals travel all day lacking water, and when they get to it, the militias are waiting. They murdered 22 males at that location and carried the bodies off to conceal them.”

An additional nurse who fled the El Fasher South medical facility after the attack on Sunday reported RSF militiamen penetrated through one gate and began shooting at patients in the emergency ward, causing at least eight fatalities. “We ran out via another entrance, yet they assaulted my head with a firearm,” he recounts.

Through a video declaration this past Wednesday, the leader of the RSF, General Dagalo, referred to as Hemedti, declared that any fighter or official who breached the rights of any individual would face consequences.

Several people who got away El Fasher spent hours hiding near the army’s artillery unit before fleeing west under cover of darkness. Families already uprooted from Abu Shouk camp in the city were compelled to relocate again, finding shelter in Daraja Oula area prior to ultimately traveling to Tawila.

Those captured by the RSF within Garney reportedly received {water mixed with flour|flour