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Nawal Khalil had been serving as a medical volunteer for the past three years within the South El Fasher hospital as the city became captured on Sunday by RSF paramilitaries. She was occupied with patient care, including an elderly woman in need of a transfusion, when the offensive started.

“They killed six wounded soldiers plus civilian patients in their beds – among them female victims,” she recounts. “The outcome remains unknown to my other patients. I had to run after they raided the medical facility.”

Khalil, 27, was shot in the right foot and thigh as RSF fighters took control of the adjacent military command center. She escaped from the city and traveled on foot for one day, wounded and without nourishment, to reach the town of Garney. “During the journey, they confiscated my phone and cash,” she says. “I possessed nothing remaining.”

Over a thousand individuals – featuring females and minors – walked for two days to get to the settlement of Tawila located in northern Darfur after running from El Fasher, which fell under control after a year-and-a-half-long siege.

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

This past Tuesday, the allied Joint Forces – that cooperate with the Sudanese army – blamed 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, with RSF militiamen around them.”

Contextual Information

Fighting broke out within Khartoum during April of 2023 as a growing contest for power involving the two key groups of the military regime finally turned deadly.

Among the combatants are the Sudanese armed forces, that stay mostly faithful towards General al-Burhan, the nation's actual leader. Opposing him exist the irregular troops belonging to the RSF, a gathering of armed factions that obey the former warlord General Dagalo, referred to as Hemedti.

The RSF was originally established by the previous authoritarian leader Omar al-Bashir as an Arab anti-rebellion militia named the Janjaweed, which quickly became synonymous with extensive brutalities. During 2013, Bashir reformed the faction into the RSF, sending them to suppress a recent insurrection within South Darfur.

The fighting has thrown Sudan into a terrible humanitarian disaster in modern times, according to UN officials. It has generated the world’s worst displacement crisis, dispersing over 10 million individuals inside the nation plus 4 million who escaped to adjacent nations, generating growing stress on Chad and South Sudan.

Ongoing Developments

According to witnesses, many additional civilians continue to be held by the RSF and partner militias in the Garney area, south-west of El Fasher. Many are former soldiers belonging to the Sudanese military, the Joint Forces and other armed groups that were previously aligned with the military. Reports indicate they're imprisoned as they lack funds for ransom requests between five and ten million Sudanese pounds (around six to twelve thousand pounds), per those who escaped who arrived in Tawila. Those unable to pay remain imprisoned for several days, and sometimes released only after falling seriously ill.

The SLA-AW has reportedly allowed government troops fleeing El Fasher to enter Tawila on condition they surrender their weapons.

Adam Yagoub, aged 28, a chauffeur from Sennar in central Sudan, barely avoided execution subsequent to his seizure by three militiamen on camels in the Garney vicinity.

“They wanted to cut my head off with a knife,” he informs, displaying his arm, which one militant assaulted using an AK-47 rifle butt. “Then one of them recognised me – his brother had worked with me – and pleaded with them to spare me. There were 18 of us who departed El Fasher collectively, yet merely eight reached Tawila. I believe the remainder perished.”

Yagoub reports he saw 22 bodies close to what he described as a “fake well” used by the RSF and partner armed groups in the area connecting Garney and Tawila. “It’s a trap,” he says. “People walk all day without water, and upon arriving there, the militiamen await. They slaughtered 22 men on that spot and removed the corpses to hide them.”

A different medical worker who ran from South El Fasher hospital following Sunday's assault stated RSF combatants came in via one entrance and began shooting at patients in the ER section, causing at least eight fatalities. “We fled through another gate, yet they assaulted my head with a firearm,” he recounts.

Through a video declaration on Wednesday, the RSF commander, General Dagalo, referred to as Hemedti, said that any soldier 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 before fleeing west during nighttime. Already displaced families originating from the urban Abu Shouk settlement were forced to move again, taking asylum in the Daraja Oula district before eventually heading for Tawila.

People apprehended by RSF forces within Garney reportedly received {water mixed with flour|flour