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Nawal Khalil had been working as a nurse for three years within the South El Fasher hospital after the city fell seized last Sunday by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). She was actively caring for the sick, featuring one senior woman who needed a blood transfusion, when the offensive started.

“They killed six wounded soldiers and civilians in their beds – including some women,” she states. “I am unaware of the fate for my remaining patients. I was forced to flee as they invaded the hospital.”

Khalil, 27, received a gunshot wound to her right foot and thigh while RSF combatants gained control of the nearby military headquarters. She ran from the urban area and walked for a day, hurt and lacking sustenance, to reach the town of Garney. “Along the route, they seized my mobile and currency,” she says. “I ended up with nothing.”

More than 1,000 people – including women and children – walked for two days to reach the town of Tawila in North Darfur following their escape from El Fasher, which was captured following an 18-month blockade.

The town of Tawila, about 34 miles (55km) west away from El Fasher, is governed by of the SLA-AW group commanded by Abdul Wahid Mohamed al-Nur.

On Tuesday, the collaborative Joint Forces – that cooperate with the Sudanese army – blamed the RSF for slaughtering in excess of 2,000 non-combatants following the urban center's takeover. United Nations officials stated there were videos featuring numerous unarmed males being shot or lying dead, with RSF militiamen around them.”

Historical Background

Hostilities commenced within Khartoum back on April 15, 2023 when an intensifying power struggle between the two main factions of the military regime finally turned deadly.

Among the combatants stand the Sudanese military forces, which maintain general loyalty to Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the nation's actual leader. Opposing him exist the irregular troops belonging to the RSF, an assembly of militia groups that obey the former warlord General Dagalo, known as Hemedti.

The Rapid Support Forces were first created by the ex-dictator Omar al-Bashir himself as an Arab counterinsurgency militia named the Janjaweed, which quickly became synonymous with widespread atrocities. Back in 2013, Bashir converted the organization to become the RSF, sending them to suppress a new uprising in South Darfur.

The conflict has plunged Sudan into a terrible humanitarian disaster in modern times, based on UN statements. It has created the globe's most severe displacement emergency, forcing more than 10 million persons within the country along with 4 million refugees into neighbouring countries, creating increasing strain upon Chad and South Sudan.

Present Circumstances

Per observer reports, numerous more non-combatants continue to be held by the RSF and allied militias in Garney, south-west of El Fasher. Many are former soldiers from Sudan's armed forces, the allied Joint Forces and other militant organizations that had been fighting alongside the army. They are apparently detained because they cannot afford extortion payments between five and ten million Sudanese pounds (£6,000 to £12,000), per those who escaped who arrived in Tawila. People who cannot afford payment have been held for multiple days, and occasionally released only after becoming gravely ill.

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, 28, a driver from Sennar within central Sudan, narrowly escaped being killed following his capture by three militiamen on camels in the Garney vicinity.

“They wanted to cut my head off using a knife,” he recounts, displaying his arm, which one militant assaulted with the stock of a Kalashnikov. “Subsequently one identified me – his sibling had collaborated with me – and urged them not to execute me. There were 18 of us who exited El Fasher as a group, but only eight made it to Tawila. I think the others are dead.”

Yagoub states he witnessed 22 deceased individuals close to what he described as a deceptive well used by the RSF and partner armed groups along the Garney-Tawila route. “It’s a trap,” he says. “Individuals travel all day lacking water, and upon arriving there, the militias are waiting. They slaughtered 22 men on that spot and carried the bodies off to obscure them.”

A different medical worker who fled the El Fasher South medical facility after the attack on Sunday stated RSF combatants came in using one doorway and began shooting at patients within the emergency department, murdering no less than eight. “We fled through another gate, however they struck my head with a firearm,” he states.

Through a video declaration on Wednesday, the leader of the RSF, General Dagalo, called Hemedti, declared that any fighter or officer who had “violated the right of any civilian would be punished.

Many of those who escaped El Fasher utilized hours concealing themselves near military artillery prior to escaping westward under cover of darkness. Families already uprooted from the city’s Abu Shouk camp were forced to move again, seeking refuge in the Daraja Oula neighbourhood before eventually heading for Tawila.

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