‘Civilians were slain in their beds’: chaos and brutality dominate after capture of El Fasher
Nawal Khalil had been volunteering as a healthcare worker over a three-year period within the South El Fasher hospital when the city was seized last Sunday by RSF paramilitaries. She was busy treating patients, among them an older female patient who needed a blood transfusion, when the offensive started.
“They murdered six wounded military personnel along with civilians in their beds – some of them women,” she states. “The outcome remains unknown to my other patients. I was forced to flee when they stormed 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 journeyed by foot for 24 hours, hurt and lacking sustenance, to get to the settlement of Garney. “During the journey, they confiscated my phone and money,” she explains. “I was left with nothing.”
More than 1,000 people – featuring females and minors – traveled on foot for two days to arrive at Tawila town within North Darfur after running from El Fasher, which fell under control after an 18-month siege.
The town of Tawila, around 55 kilometers to the west away from El Fasher, is governed by by the SLA faction under Abdul Wahid Mohamed al-Nur's leadership.
On Tuesday, the Joint Forces – who are allied with Sudan’s army – charged the RSF of killing more than 2,000 civilians after the city's capture. The UN reported that visual evidence showed showing “dozens of unarmed men who were shot or found dead, with RSF militiamen around them.”
Contextual Information
Fighting broke out within Khartoum during April of 2023 as an escalating power struggle among the two primary factions within the military government ultimately became violent.
Among the combatants exist the official Sudanese army, who remain broadly loyal towards General al-Burhan, the nation's actual leader. Challenging him exist the irregular troops of the RSF paramilitary group, a gathering of armed factions which support the ex-warlord Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, referred to as Hemedti.
The RSF was initially founded by the former dictatorial ruler Bashir's regime as an Arab anti-rebellion militia known as the Janjaweed, which quickly became synonymous with widespread atrocities. Back in 2013, Bashir converted the organization into the RSF, deploying them to crush a recent insurrection within South Darfur.
The war has pushed Sudan into a terrible humanitarian disaster in contemporary history, according to UN officials. It has produced the planet's biggest displacement catastrophe, dispersing over 10 million individuals inside the nation along with 4 million refugees to bordering states, creating increasing strain upon Chad and South Sudan.
Ongoing Developments
Per observer reports, numerous more non-combatants continue to be held by the RSF and allied militias within Garney, in the southwestern direction from El Fasher. Many are former soldiers belonging to the Sudanese military, the allied Joint Forces plus additional armed factions that had been fighting alongside the army. They are apparently detained since they cannot pay ransom demands ranging from 5 to 10 million Sudanese pounds (around six to twelve thousand pounds), per those who escaped who made it to Tawila. Those unable to pay remain imprisoned for several days, and occasionally released only after becoming gravely ill.
The SLA-AW has reportedly allowed military personnel escaping El Fasher to access Tawila provided they give up their weapons.
Adam Yagoub, 28, a chauffeur from Sennar within central Sudan, closely avoided death after being captured by three armed men mounted on camels in the Garney vicinity.
“They intended to behead me with a blade,” he informs, exhibiting his limb, which one of the fighters hit using an AK-47 rifle butt. “Subsequently one identified me – his brother was my colleague – and begged them not to kill me. There were 18 of us who exited El Fasher as a group, but only eight made it to Tawila. I assume the others died.”
Yagoub says he witnessed 22 deceased individuals close to what he described as a deceptive well utilized by RSF forces and allied militias along the Garney-Tawila route. “It represents a trap,” he explains. “Individuals travel all day lacking water, and when they reach it, the militias are waiting. They killed 22 men there and carried the bodies off to conceal them.”
Another nurse who fled the El Fasher South medical facility after the attack on Sunday stated RSF combatants came in through one gate and commenced firing upon patients within the emergency department, causing at least eight fatalities. “We ran out via another entrance, however they struck my head with a rifle,” he states.
Through a video declaration on Wednesday, the head 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.
Many of those who escaped El Fasher spent hours taking cover close to army artillery positions prior to escaping westward under darkness's protection. Already displaced families from Abu Shouk camp in the city were forced to move again, finding shelter in Daraja Oula area before eventually heading for Tawila.
People apprehended by RSF forces in Garney were reportedly given {water mixed with flour|flour
