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

A nurse named Nawal Khalil had been working as a medical volunteer over a three-year period at El Fasher South hospital when the city was taken over on Sunday by RSF paramilitaries. She was occupied with patient care, among them an older female patient in need of a transfusion, when the attack began.

“They murdered six wounded military personnel and civilians in their beds – some of them women,” she recounts. “I am unaware of the fate to my other patients. I had to run when they stormed the hospital.”

Khalil, 27, received a gunshot wound to her right foot and her thigh during the RSF's seizure of the closeby army headquarters. She ran from the urban area and walked for a day, hurt and lacking sustenance, to arrive at Garney town. “Along the route, they confiscated my phone and currency,” she explains. “I ended up with nothing.”

In excess of 1,000 persons – including women and children – traveled on foot for two days to reach the town of Tawila in North Darfur after fleeing El Fasher, which was seized after an 18-month siege.

This settlement, about 34 miles (55km) west of El Fasher, is under the control of the SLA-AW group commanded by Abdul Wahid Mohamed al-Nur.

This past Tuesday, the collaborative Joint Forces – which partner with Sudan's military – blamed the RSF of killing more than 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, surrounded by RSF fighters.”

Background Context

Fighting broke out in Khartoum back on April 15, 2023 as a growing contest for power between the two main factions of the military regime ultimately became violent.

Among the combatants exist the official Sudanese army, that stay mostly faithful to Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the de facto head of state. Against 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, called Hemedti.

The Rapid Support Forces were first created by the previous authoritarian leader Bashir's regime as an Arab anti-rebellion militia named the Janjaweed, which quickly became synonymous with massive human rights violations. During 2013, Bashir reformed the faction into the Rapid Support Forces, sending them to suppress a recent insurrection in southern Darfur.

The conflict has plunged Sudan into “one of the worst humanitarian nightmares in contemporary history, as per UN representatives. It has produced the planet's biggest displacement catastrophe, dispersing over 10 million individuals within the country and 4 million who have fled into neighbouring countries, creating increasing strain upon Chad and South Sudan.

Current Situation Updates

Per observer reports, many additional civilians remain trapped by the RSF and associated armed groups within Garney, southwest from El Fasher. Several are previous army members belonging to the Sudanese military, the allied Joint Forces plus additional armed factions that had been fighting alongside the army. Reports indicate they're imprisoned since they cannot pay extortion payments of between 5m and 10m Sudanese pounds (around six to twelve thousand pounds), based on survivor accounts who arrived in Tawila. People who cannot afford payment remain imprisoned for several days, and in some cases freed only when becoming gravely ill.

The SLA-AW has reportedly allowed army soldiers running from El Fasher to access Tawila if they relinquish their arms.

The individual Adam Yagoub, aged 28, a driver from Sennar within central Sudan, barely avoided execution subsequent to his seizure by three armed men mounted on camels close to Garney.

“They wanted to cut my head off with a knife,” he informs, displaying his arm, which one militant assaulted with the stock of a Kalashnikov. “Subsequently one identified me – his brother was my colleague – and begged them not to kill me. Our group contained 18 individuals who departed El Fasher collectively, however just eight arrived in Tawila. I assume the others died.”

Yagoub reports he witnessed 22 deceased individuals near what he called a deceptive well employed by the RSF and associated militias in the area connecting Garney and Tawila. “It’s a trap,” he comments. “People walk all day without water, and when they get to it, the militiamen await. They killed 22 men there and removed the corpses to obscure them.”

A different medical worker who escaped El Fasher South hospital following Sunday's assault stated RSF combatants came in via one entrance and opened fire on patients within the emergency department, causing at least eight fatalities. “We escaped through a different gate, however they struck my head with a rifle,” he states.

Through a video declaration last Wednesday, the leader of the RSF, Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, referred to as Hemedti, stated that any military personnel or officer who had “violated the right of any person” would be held accountable.

Numerous individuals who fled El Fasher utilized hours taking cover close to army artillery positions prior to escaping westward under cover of darkness. Families already uprooted from Abu Shouk camp in the city had to displace once more, finding shelter in Daraja Oula area before eventually heading for Tawila.

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