‘They killed civilians in their beds’: mayhem and cruelty reign after capture of El Fasher

The volunteer nurse Nawal Khalil had been serving as a medical volunteer for three years in the El Fasher South medical facility as the city became seized last Sunday by the RSF fighters. She was occupied with patient care, 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 – among them female victims,” she recounts. “I am unaware of the fate to my other patients. I was forced to flee after they raided the medical facility.”

The 27-year-old Khalil, received a gunshot wound to her right foot and thigh during the RSF's seizure of the nearby military headquarters. She fled the city and walked for a day, injured and without food, to arrive at Garney town. “On the way, they seized my mobile and cash,” she explains. “I ended up with nothing.”

In excess of 1,000 persons – featuring females and minors – walked for two days to reach the town of Tawila within North Darfur following their escape from El Fasher, which was captured following an 18-month blockade.

This settlement, approximately 34 miles westward away from El Fasher, is governed by by the SLA faction commanded by Abdul Wahid Mohamed al-Nur.

On Tuesday, the collaborative Joint Forces – that cooperate with the Sudanese army – blamed the RSF with murdering over 2,000 civilians since the fall of the city. The UN said that visual evidence showed showing “dozens of unarmed men either being shot or deceased, surrounded by RSF fighters.”

Contextual Information

Hostilities commenced within Khartoum back on April 15, 2023 when an intensifying power struggle between the two main factions of the military regime eventually resulted in fatalities.

On one side stand the Sudanese military forces, that stay mostly faithful towards General al-Burhan, the nation's actual leader. Challenging him stand the paramilitary forces of the RSF paramilitary group, a collection of militias who follow the former 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 quickly became synonymous with widespread atrocities. Back in 2013, Bashir converted the organization into the RSF, sending them to suppress a recent insurrection within South Darfur.

The fighting has thrown Sudan into a terrible humanitarian disaster in recent history”, according to UN officials. It has generated the planet's biggest displacement catastrophe, dispersing over 10 million individuals within the country along with 4 million refugees into neighbouring countries, creating increasing strain on both Chad and South Sudan.

Present Circumstances

Based on eyewitness accounts, numerous more non-combatants continue to be held by the RSF and associated armed groups in Garney, in the southwestern direction from El Fasher. Several are previous army members from Sudan's armed forces, the collaborative forces plus additional armed factions 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 (around six to twelve thousand pounds), per those who escaped who arrived in Tawila. Those unable to pay have been detained for days, and in some cases freed only when falling seriously ill.

Reports suggest the SLA-AW has authorized army soldiers running from El Fasher to enter Tawila on condition they surrender their weapons.

A man named Adam Yagoub, aged 28, a chauffeur from Sennar from central Sudanese regions, closely avoided death subsequent to his seizure by three armed men mounted on camels in the Garney vicinity.

“They wanted to cut my head off with a blade,” he tells, showing his arm, 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 left El Fasher together, but only eight made it to Tawila. I believe the remainder perished.”

Yagoub says he witnessed 22 deceased individuals close to what he described as a fraudulent water source used by the RSF and partner armed groups between Garney and Tawila. “It represents a trap,” he comments. “Individuals travel all day lacking water, and upon arriving there, the militiamen await. They killed 22 men there and took the bodies away to conceal them.”

A different medical worker who fled the El Fasher South medical facility subsequent to Sunday's offensive stated RSF combatants came in via one entrance and commenced firing upon patients within the emergency department, causing at least eight fatalities. “We fled through another gate, but they hit me on the head with a firearm,” he recounts.

In a video statement on Wednesday, the head of the RSF, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, called Hemedti, said that any soldier or officer who had “violated the right of any person” would be held accountable.

Many of those who escaped El Fasher utilized hours taking cover close to army artillery positions before fleeing west under darkness's protection. Already displaced families from Abu Shouk camp in the city had to displace once more, seeking refuge in the Daraja Oula neighbourhood before finally moving toward Tawila.

People apprehended by RSF forces in Garney were apparently provided {water mixed with flour|flour