‘Civilians were slain in their beds’: chaos and brutality reign after fall of El Fasher
Nawal Khalil had been working as a nurse over a three-year period within the South El Fasher hospital when the city was taken over on Sunday by the RSF fighters. She was actively caring for the sick, featuring one senior woman who needed a blood transfusion, when the offensive started.
“Six injured soldiers were killed along with civilians in their beds – among them female victims,” she recounts. “The outcome remains unknown regarding my other patients. I was forced to flee when they stormed the hospital.”
Khalil, aged 27, received a gunshot wound to her right foot and her thigh during the RSF's seizure of the closeby army headquarters. She ran from the urban area and traveled on foot for one day, injured and without food, to reach the town of Garney. “On the way, they took my phone and currency,” she describes. “I was left with nothing.”
Over a thousand individuals – comprising women and children – journeyed by walking for 48 hours to arrive at Tawila town within North Darfur following their escape from El Fasher, which was captured after a year-and-a-half-long siege.
The town of Tawila, about 34 miles (55km) west from El Fasher, is governed by by the SLA faction under Abdul Wahid Mohamed al-Nur's leadership.
Last Tuesday, the Joint Forces – who are allied with Sudan’s army – charged the RSF with murdering over 2,000 civilians following the urban center's takeover. United Nations officials stated that footage existed depicting dozens of weaponless men either being shot or deceased, with RSF militiamen around them.”
Historical Background
Fighting broke out in Sudan's capital during April of 2023 as an escalating power struggle involving the two key groups of the military regime eventually resulted in fatalities.
Among the combatants exist the official Sudanese army, which maintain general loyalty to Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the de facto head of state. Challenging him are the paramilitaries of the RSF paramilitary group, an assembly of militia groups which support the ex-warlord General Dagalo, referred to as Hemedti.
The RSF was initially founded by the ex-dictator Omar al-Bashir himself as an Arab counterinsurgency militia called the Janjaweed, which soon became linked with extensive brutalities. In 2013, Bashir reformed the faction into the Rapid Support Forces, sending them to suppress a new uprising within South Darfur.
The conflict has plunged Sudan into a terrible humanitarian disaster in recent history”, based on UN statements. It has generated the world’s worst displacement crisis, forcing more than 10 million persons inside the nation plus 4 million who escaped into neighbouring countries, putting mounting pressure upon Chad and South Sudan.
Current Situation Updates
According to witnesses, thousands more civilians stay confined by RSF forces and partner militias in Garney, in the southwestern direction from El Fasher. Many are former soldiers belonging to the Sudanese military, the collaborative forces plus additional armed factions which had been combatting together with the army. They are apparently detained as they lack funds for ransom demands ranging from 5 to 10 million Sudanese pounds (around six to twelve thousand pounds), according to survivors who made it to Tawila. Individuals incapable of paying remain imprisoned for several days, and occasionally let go solely after developing critical health conditions.
The SLA-AW has reportedly allowed military personnel escaping El Fasher to access Tawila on condition they surrender their weapons.
A man named Adam Yagoub, aged 28, a driver from Sennar in central Sudan, closely avoided death following his capture by three camel-riding militiamen close to Garney.
“They wanted to cut my head off with a knife,” he informs, exhibiting his limb, which one militant assaulted using an AK-47 rifle butt. “Subsequently one identified me – his brother had worked with me – and begged them not to kill me. There were 18 of us who exited El Fasher as a group, however just eight arrived in Tawila. I believe the remainder perished.”
Yagoub reports he observed 22 corpses near what he called a “fake well” employed by the RSF and partner armed groups in the area connecting Garney and Tawila. “It’s a trap,” he says. “Individuals travel all day lacking water, and when they get to it, the armed groups lie in wait. They slaughtered 22 men on that spot and removed the corpses to conceal them.”
A different medical worker who ran from South El Fasher hospital subsequent to Sunday's offensive said RSF fighters entered using one doorway and began shooting at patients in the ER section, killing at least eight. “We ran out via another entrance, but they hit me on the head with a rifle,” he recounts.
Through a video declaration last Wednesday, the leader of the RSF, General Dagalo, called Hemedti, said that any soldier or officer who had “violated the right of any person” would be held accountable.
Numerous individuals who fled from El Fasher passed hours hiding near the army’s artillery unit before fleeing west during nighttime. Already displaced families from the city’s Abu Shouk camp 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