‘Civilians were slain in their beds’: disorder and violence prevail following fall of El Fasher
Nawal Khalil had been serving as a medical volunteer for three years at El Fasher South hospital as the city became taken over on Sunday by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). She was actively caring for the sick, including an elderly woman requiring a blood transfusion, when the offensive started.
“They murdered six wounded military personnel and civilians in their beds – some of them women,” she says. “I don’t know what happened to my other patients. I needed to escape after they raided the medical facility.”
Khalil, 27, was shot in the right foot and thigh as RSF fighters took control of the closeby army headquarters. She fled the city and walked for a day, injured and without food, to arrive at Garney town. “On the way, they took my phone and money,” she says. “I was left with nothing.”
In excess of 1,000 persons – comprising women and children – walked for two days to get to the settlement of Tawila in North Darfur after running from El Fasher, which fell under control following an 18-month blockade.
This settlement, around 55 kilometers to the west away from El Fasher, remains under the authority by the SLA faction under Abdul Wahid Mohamed al-Nur's leadership.
This past Tuesday, the Joint Forces – which partner with Sudan's military – charged the RSF of killing more than 2,000 civilians following the urban center's takeover. The UN reported that footage existed showing “dozens of unarmed men being shot or lying dead, surrounded by RSF fighters.”
Historical Background
Conflict erupted within Khartoum on 15 April 2023 as a growing contest for power between the two main factions of the military regime finally turned deadly.
From one perspective stand the Sudanese military forces, which maintain general loyalty to Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the de facto head of state. Against him are the paramilitaries of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a gathering of armed factions who follow the former warlord General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, referred to as Hemedti.
The RSF was initially founded by the ex-dictator Omar al-Bashir as an Arab counterinsurgency militia known as the Janjaweed, which soon became linked with widespread atrocities. Back in 2013, Bashir converted the organization to become the RSF, using them to quell a recent insurrection within South Darfur.
The conflict has plunged Sudan into “one of the worst humanitarian nightmares in contemporary history, based on UN statements. It has produced the globe's most severe displacement emergency, forcing more than 10 million persons inside the nation plus 4 million who escaped to adjacent nations, putting mounting pressure upon Chad and South Sudan.
Current Situation Updates
According to witnesses, thousands more civilians stay confined by RSF forces and partner militias in Garney, southwest from El Fasher. Several are previous army members from the Sudanese army, the collaborative forces plus additional armed factions that were previously aligned with the military. Reports indicate they're imprisoned since they cannot pay ransom demands of between 5m and 10m Sudanese pounds (£6,000 to £12,000), per those who escaped who reached Tawila. People who cannot afford payment have been detained for days, and sometimes released only after developing critical health conditions.
Reports suggest the SLA-AW has authorized government troops fleeing El Fasher to enter Tawila on condition they surrender their weapons.
A man named Adam Yagoub, aged 28, a chauffeur from Sennar in central Sudan, barely avoided execution following his capture by three camel-riding militiamen in the Garney vicinity.
“They planned to decapitate me using a knife,” he informs, showing his arm, which one militant assaulted using an AK-47 rifle butt. “Subsequently one identified me – his brother had worked with me – and urged them not to execute me. There were 18 of us 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 “fake well” employed by the RSF and associated militias along the Garney-Tawila route. “This is an ambush,” he explains. “People walk all day without water, and when they reach it, the militias are waiting. They killed 22 men there and carried the bodies off to conceal them.”
An additional nurse who fled the El Fasher South medical facility following Sunday's assault said RSF fighters entered using one doorway and began shooting at patients in the emergency ward, killing at least eight. “We escaped through a different gate, but they hit me on the head with a firearm,” he recounts.
In a video statement this past Wednesday, the head of the RSF, General Dagalo, called 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 from El Fasher passed hours taking cover close to army artillery positions prior to escaping westward under darkness's protection. Already displaced families originating from the urban Abu Shouk settlement had to displace once more, finding shelter in Daraja Oula area before eventually heading for Tawila.
People apprehended by RSF forces within Garney reportedly received {water mixed with flour|flour
