‘Civilians were slain in their beds’: chaos and brutality prevail following fall of El Fasher
Nawal Khalil had been serving as a nurse for the past three years within the South El Fasher hospital when the city was seized last Sunday by the RSF fighters. She was busy treating patients, among them an older female patient requiring a blood transfusion, as the assault commenced.
“They killed six wounded soldiers along with civilians in their beds – including some women,” she says. “I am unaware of the fate regarding my other patients. I needed to escape as they invaded the hospital.”
Khalil, 27, was hit by a bullet in her right foot and thigh during the RSF's seizure of the nearby military headquarters. She escaped from the city and walked for a day, wounded and without nourishment, to get to the settlement of Garney. “Along the route, they took my phone and money,” she explains. “I was left with nothing.”
More than 1,000 people – including women and children – traveled on foot for two days to reach the town of Tawila within North Darfur after running from El Fasher, which fell under control following an 18-month blockade.
The town of Tawila, about 34 miles (55km) west away from El Fasher, remains under the authority by the SLA faction under Abdul Wahid Mohamed al-Nur's leadership.
On Tuesday, the collaborative Joint Forces – which partner with Sudan's military – accused the RSF for slaughtering in excess of 2,000 non-combatants since the fall of the city. United Nations officials stated there were videos depicting dozens of weaponless men who were shot or found dead, encircled by RSF combatants.”
Background Context
Fighting broke out in Khartoum back on April 15, 2023 when an intensifying power struggle involving the two key groups within the military government eventually resulted in fatalities.
Among the combatants stand the Sudanese military forces, that stay mostly faithful to Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the nation's actual leader. Against him exist the irregular troops of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a gathering of armed factions which support the ex-warlord General Dagalo, known as Hemedti.
The Rapid Support Forces were first created by the ex-dictator Omar al-Bashir as an Arab anti-rebellion militia named the Janjaweed, which soon became linked with massive human rights violations. During 2013, Bashir reformed the faction to become the RSF, using them to quell a fresh rebellion in southern Darfur.
The fighting has thrown Sudan into among the most severe humanitarian crises in recent 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 bordering states, creating increasing strain upon Chad and South Sudan.
Ongoing Developments
According to witnesses, many additional civilians stay confined by RSF forces and allied militias within Garney, south-west of El Fasher. Many are former soldiers belonging to the Sudanese military, the allied Joint Forces and other militant organizations that were previously aligned with the military. They are reportedly being held because they cannot afford ransom demands between five and ten million Sudanese pounds (approximately £6,000-£12,000), according to survivors who arrived in Tawila. People who cannot afford payment have been detained for days, and occasionally released only after falling seriously ill.
The SLA-AW has reportedly allowed government troops fleeing El Fasher to access Tawila if they relinquish their arms.
A man named Adam Yagoub, 28, a driver from Sennar within central Sudan, barely avoided execution after being captured by three armed men mounted on camels close to Garney.
“They wanted to cut my head off using a knife,” he informs, displaying his arm, that one combatant struck with the stock of a Kalashnikov. “Afterward one remembered me – his brother had worked with me – and begged them not to kill me. Our group contained 18 individuals who departed El Fasher collectively, but only eight made it to Tawila. I assume the others died.”
Yagoub reports he saw 22 bodies near what he called a “fake well” used by the RSF and associated militias between Garney and Tawila. “This is an ambush,” he explains. “Individuals travel all day lacking water, and when they get to it, the militias are waiting. They murdered 22 males at that location and carried the bodies off to hide them.”
Another nurse who ran from South El Fasher hospital following Sunday's assault stated RSF combatants came in via one entrance and commenced firing upon patients in the emergency ward, killing at least eight. “We escaped through a different gate, yet they assaulted my head using a rifle,” he recounts.
Via a recorded message on Wednesday, the RSF commander, Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, referred to as Hemedti, declared that any fighter or official who breached the rights of any civilian would be punished.
Many of those who escaped from El Fasher passed hours concealing themselves near military artillery prior to escaping westward during nighttime. Already displaced families from Abu Shouk camp in the city were forced to move again, taking asylum in the Daraja Oula district before finally moving toward Tawila.
Those captured by the RSF in Garney were reportedly given {water mixed with flour|flour
