‘Civilians were slain in their beds’: mayhem and cruelty dominate after fall of El Fasher

Nawal Khalil had been serving as a medical volunteer for three years in the El Fasher South medical facility after the city fell seized last Sunday by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). She was busy treating patients, including an elderly woman in need of a transfusion, when the offensive started.

“Six injured soldiers were killed plus civilian patients in their beds – including some women,” she says. “I am unaware of the fate for my remaining patients. I was forced to flee as they invaded the hospital.”

Khalil, aged 27, received a gunshot wound to her right foot and upper leg during the RSF's seizure of the adjacent military command center. She ran from the urban area and journeyed by foot for 24 hours, injured and without food, to get to the settlement of Garney. “On the way, they confiscated my phone and cash,” she says. “I ended up with nothing.”

In excess of 1,000 persons – including women and children – journeyed by walking for 48 hours to reach the town of Tawila located in northern Darfur after running from El Fasher, which was captured following an 18-month blockade.

Tawila, around 55 kilometers to the west from El Fasher, remains under the authority by the SLA faction led by Abdul Wahid Mohamed al-Nur (SLA-AW).

This past Tuesday, the allied Joint Forces – which partner with Sudan's military – blamed the RSF for slaughtering in excess of 2,000 non-combatants following the urban center's takeover. The UN said that footage existed showing “dozens of unarmed men either being shot or deceased, with RSF militiamen around them.”

Background Context

Conflict erupted in Sudan's capital during April of 2023 as a growing contest for power between the two main factions within the military government ultimately became violent.

On one side exist the official Sudanese army, that stay mostly faithful to Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the country’s de facto ruler. Against him stand the paramilitary forces of the RSF paramilitary group, a collection of militias which support the ex-warlord General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, referred to as Hemedti.

The Rapid Support Forces were first created by the former dictatorial ruler Omar al-Bashir himself as an Arab anti-rebellion militia named the Janjaweed, which soon became linked with widespread atrocities. Back in 2013, Bashir transformed the group to become the RSF, deploying them to crush a new uprising in southern Darfur.

The conflict has plunged Sudan into among the most severe humanitarian crises in contemporary history, based on UN statements. It has produced the globe's most severe displacement emergency, forcing more than 10 million persons within the country plus 4 million who escaped to bordering states, generating growing stress on both Chad and South Sudan.

Ongoing Developments

According to witnesses, numerous more non-combatants stay confined by RSF forces and partner militias in the Garney area, in the southwestern direction from El Fasher. Several are previous army members belonging to the Sudanese military, the Joint Forces and other militant organizations which had been combatting together with the army. Reports indicate they're imprisoned since they cannot pay extortion payments between five and ten million Sudanese pounds (£6,000 to £12,000), based on survivor accounts who reached Tawila. People who cannot afford payment remain imprisoned for several days, and occasionally let go solely after falling seriously ill.

Reports suggest the SLA-AW has authorized military personnel escaping El Fasher to enter Tawila provided they give up their weapons.

A man named Adam Yagoub, aged 28, a driver from Sennar from central Sudanese regions, narrowly escaped being killed following his capture by three militiamen on camels near Garney.

“They wanted to cut my head off with a knife,” he tells, exhibiting his limb, which one militant assaulted with the butt of an AK-47 rifle. “Subsequently one identified me – his brother was my colleague – and begged them not to kill me. Our group contained 18 individuals who exited El Fasher as a group, however just eight arrived in Tawila. I believe the remainder perished.”

Yagoub says he witnessed 22 deceased individuals in proximity to what he termed a fraudulent water source employed by the RSF and associated militias in the area connecting Garney and Tawila. “This is an ambush,” he explains. “People walk all day without water, and when they get to it, the militiamen await. They killed 22 men there and took the bodies away to hide them.”

A different medical worker who ran from South El Fasher hospital after the attack on Sunday reported RSF militiamen penetrated using one doorway and commenced firing upon patients in the ER section, causing at least eight fatalities. “We ran out via another entrance, yet they assaulted my head using a rifle,” he recounts.

Via a recorded message last Wednesday, the head of the RSF, General Dagalo, known as Hemedti, declared that any fighter or officer who had “violated the right of any individual would face consequences.

Many of those who escaped El Fasher spent hours concealing themselves near military artillery prior to escaping westward during nighttime. Families already uprooted from Abu Shouk camp in the city were compelled to relocate again, seeking refuge in the Daraja Oula neighbourhood before eventually heading for Tawila.

People apprehended by RSF forces within Garney reportedly received {water mixed with flour|flour