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A nurse named Nawal Khalil had been working as a healthcare worker for the past three years at El Fasher South hospital as the city became seized last Sunday by the RSF fighters. She was occupied with patient care, including an elderly woman requiring a blood transfusion, when the offensive started.

“They killed six wounded soldiers along with civilians in their beds – some of them women,” she states. “I am unaware of the fate for my remaining patients. I needed to escape as they invaded the hospital.”

Khalil, 27, was shot in the right foot and her thigh while RSF combatants gained control of the closeby army headquarters. She fled the city and walked for a day, injured and without food, to reach the town of Garney. “During the journey, they took my phone and currency,” she explains. “I possessed nothing remaining.”

In excess of 1,000 persons – featuring females and minors – journeyed by walking for 48 hours to reach the town of Tawila located in northern Darfur following their escape from El Fasher, which was captured following an 18-month blockade.

Tawila, approximately 34 miles westward of El Fasher, remains under the authority of the SLA-AW group commanded by Abdul Wahid Mohamed al-Nur.

Last Tuesday, the Joint Forces – which partner with Sudan's military – accused the RSF with murdering over 2,000 civilians following the urban center's takeover. The UN reported that visual evidence showed showing “dozens of unarmed men either being shot or deceased, encircled by RSF combatants.”

Background Context

Hostilities commenced within Khartoum during April of 2023 as an escalating power struggle among the two primary factions within the military government eventually resulted in fatalities.

From one perspective exist the official Sudanese army, that stay mostly faithful to General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the country’s de facto ruler. Against him exist the irregular troops belonging to the RSF, a collection of militias that obey the former warlord General Dagalo, called Hemedti.

The Rapid Support Forces were first created by the former dictatorial ruler Bashir's regime as an Arab counterinsurgency militia named the Janjaweed, that rapidly became associated with widespread atrocities. Back in 2013, Bashir reformed the faction to become the RSF, sending them to suppress a recent insurrection in South Darfur.

The war has pushed Sudan into a terrible humanitarian disaster in recent history”, based on UN statements. It has created the planet's biggest displacement catastrophe, scattering more than 10 million people inside the nation plus 4 million who escaped to adjacent nations, generating growing stress upon Chad and South Sudan.

Current Situation Updates

According to witnesses, many additional civilians remain trapped by the RSF and partner militias within Garney, southwest from El Fasher. Several are previous army members from the Sudanese army, the collaborative forces and other armed groups which had been combatting together with the army. Reports indicate they're imprisoned as they lack funds for ransom requests of between 5m and 10m Sudanese pounds (around six to twelve thousand pounds), per those who escaped who made it to Tawila. Those unable to pay have been held for multiple days, and occasionally let go solely after falling seriously ill.

Reports suggest the SLA-AW has authorized military personnel escaping El Fasher to access Tawila if they relinquish their arms.

Adam Yagoub, aged 28, a chauffeur from Sennar from central Sudanese regions, narrowly escaped being killed after being captured by three armed men mounted on camels in the Garney vicinity.

“They intended to behead me using a knife,” he informs, exhibiting his limb, that one combatant struck with the stock of a Kalashnikov. “Afterward one remembered 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, but only eight made it to Tawila. I assume the others died.”

Yagoub states he observed 22 corpses in proximity to what he termed a “fake well” employed by the RSF and partner armed groups along the Garney-Tawila route. “This is an ambush,” he explains. “People walk all day without water, and upon arriving there, the militias are waiting. They killed 22 men there and carried the bodies off to hide them.”

A different medical worker who ran from South El Fasher hospital subsequent to Sunday's offensive stated RSF combatants came in using one doorway and commenced firing upon patients in the emergency ward, killing at least eight. “We fled through another gate, but they hit me on the head with a firearm,” he states.

Via a recorded message on Wednesday, the leader of the RSF, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, called Hemedti, said that any soldier or commander who infringed upon the rights of any civilian would be punished.

Numerous individuals who fled El Fasher utilized hours taking cover close to army artillery positions prior to escaping westward during nighttime. Previously displaced households originating from the urban Abu Shouk settlement had to displace once more, finding shelter in Daraja Oula area before finally moving toward Tawila.

Those captured by the RSF within Garney reportedly received {water mixed with flour|flour