Nawal Khalil had been volunteering as a healthcare worker over a three-year period at El Fasher South hospital as the city became captured on Sunday by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). She was busy treating patients, among them an older female patient in need of a transfusion, when the offensive started.
“They killed six wounded soldiers along with civilians in their beds – including some women,” she says. “The outcome remains unknown regarding my other patients. I was forced to flee as they invaded the hospital.”
Khalil, aged 27, was shot in the right foot and thigh during the RSF's seizure of the nearby military headquarters. 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 took my phone and money,” she describes. “I possessed nothing remaining.”
More than 1,000 people – comprising women and children – journeyed by walking for 48 hours to reach the town of Tawila within North Darfur after running from El Fasher, which fell under control after a year-and-a-half-long siege.
The town of Tawila, about 34 miles (55km) west of El Fasher, is governed by by the SLA faction led by Abdul Wahid Mohamed al-Nur (SLA-AW).
This past Tuesday, the Joint Forces – who are allied with Sudan’s army – blamed the RSF for slaughtering in excess of 2,000 non-combatants after the city's capture. The UN reported that footage existed featuring numerous unarmed males being shot or lying dead, encircled by RSF combatants.”
Fighting broke out within Khartoum 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 are the Sudanese armed forces, who remain broadly loyal towards General al-Burhan, the nation's actual leader. Challenging him exist the irregular troops of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), an assembly of militia groups that obey the former 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 a pro-Arab counterinsurgency force named the Janjaweed, which soon became linked with widespread atrocities. Back in 2013, Bashir reformed the faction into the RSF, using them to quell a fresh rebellion within South Darfur.
The conflict has plunged Sudan into “one of the worst humanitarian nightmares in modern times, according to UN officials. It has generated the globe's most severe displacement emergency, forcing more than 10 million persons internally plus 4 million who escaped into neighbouring countries, putting mounting pressure on Chad and South Sudan.
Based on eyewitness accounts, thousands more civilians continue to be held by the RSF and associated armed groups in Garney, in the southwestern direction from El Fasher. Numerous are ex-military personnel from Sudan's armed forces, the Joint Forces and other militant organizations that had been fighting alongside the army. They are reportedly being held because they cannot afford ransom demands between five and ten million Sudanese pounds (around six to twelve thousand pounds), according to survivors who reached Tawila. Individuals incapable of paying have been detained for days, and in some cases freed only when developing critical health conditions.
The SLA-AW has apparently permitted military personnel escaping El Fasher to access Tawila provided they give up their weapons.
A man named Adam Yagoub, 28, a driver from Sennar in central Sudan, narrowly escaped being killed after being captured by three armed men mounted on camels near Garney.
“They wanted to cut my head off using a knife,” he informs, showing his arm, which one of the fighters hit with the stock of a Kalashnikov. “Then one of them recognised 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 think the others are dead.”
Yagoub states he witnessed 22 deceased individuals in proximity to what he termed a “fake well” utilized by RSF forces and associated militias between Garney and Tawila. “It represents a trap,” he explains. “Individuals travel all day lacking water, and upon arriving there, the militiamen await. They murdered 22 males at that location and removed the corpses to obscure them.”
An additional nurse who fled the El Fasher South medical facility subsequent to Sunday's offensive reported RSF militiamen penetrated via one entrance and opened fire on patients in the ER section, causing at least eight fatalities. “We fled through another gate, yet they assaulted my head with a firearm,” he recounts.
Via a recorded message on Wednesday, the leader of the RSF, Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, referred to as Hemedti, stated that any military personnel or commander who infringed upon the rights of any person” would be held accountable.
Numerous individuals who fled El Fasher spent hours concealing themselves near military artillery before fleeing west during nighttime. Families already uprooted from Abu Shouk camp in the city had to displace once more, seeking refuge in the Daraja Oula neighbourhood before finally moving toward Tawila.
Individuals seized by the RSF within Garney reportedly received {water mixed with flour|flour
Elara Vance is a dedicated MapleStory enthusiast and gaming writer, known for creating in-depth guides and staying updated on game mechanics.
