‘They killed civilians in their beds’: disorder and violence reign after capture of El Fasher
Nawal Khalil had been working as a healthcare worker for the past three years at El Fasher South hospital as the city became captured on Sunday by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). She was busy treating patients, featuring one senior woman 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. “The outcome remains unknown regarding my other patients. I needed to escape after they raided the medical facility.”
The 27-year-old Khalil, was shot in the right foot and thigh during the RSF's seizure of the closeby army headquarters. She fled the city and journeyed by foot for 24 hours, wounded and without nourishment, to reach the town of Garney. “During the journey, they took my phone and currency,” she says. “I ended up with nothing.”
In excess of 1,000 persons – comprising women and children – journeyed by walking for 48 hours to get to the settlement of Tawila within North Darfur after fleeing El Fasher, which was captured following an 18-month blockade.
Tawila, around 55 kilometers to the west away from El Fasher, is under the control by the SLA faction under Abdul Wahid Mohamed al-Nur's leadership.
On Tuesday, the allied Joint Forces – which partner with Sudan's military – charged the RSF of killing more than 2,000 civilians after the city's capture. United Nations officials stated there were videos depicting dozens of weaponless men either being shot or deceased, encircled by RSF combatants.”
Background Context
Hostilities commenced in Khartoum back on April 15, 2023 as an escalating power struggle between the two main factions within the military government eventually resulted in fatalities.
On one side exist the official Sudanese army, which maintain general loyalty towards General al-Burhan, the de facto head of state. Challenging him exist the irregular troops belonging to the RSF, a gathering of armed factions that obey the former warlord General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti.
The RSF was initially founded by the ex-dictator Omar al-Bashir himself as a pro-Arab counterinsurgency force known as the Janjaweed, that rapidly became associated with widespread atrocities. In 2013, Bashir transformed the group to become the RSF, using them to quell a fresh rebellion within South Darfur.
The conflict has plunged Sudan into “one of the worst humanitarian nightmares in contemporary history, according to UN officials. It has created the planet's biggest displacement catastrophe, forcing more than 10 million persons inside the nation and 4 million who have fled to bordering states, generating growing stress on Chad and South Sudan.
Present Circumstances
Per observer reports, many additional civilians stay confined by RSF forces and partner militias in Garney, south-west of El Fasher. Numerous are ex-military personnel belonging to the Sudanese military, the allied Joint Forces plus additional armed factions that were previously aligned with the military. Reports indicate they're imprisoned since they cannot pay ransom requests between five and ten million Sudanese pounds (approximately £6,000-£12,000), per those who escaped who reached Tawila. Those unable to pay remain imprisoned for several days, and occasionally let go solely after falling seriously ill.
Reports suggest the SLA-AW has authorized government troops fleeing El Fasher to enter Tawila on condition they surrender their weapons.
Adam Yagoub, twenty-eight years old, a motorist originating from Sennar from central Sudanese regions, closely avoided death following his capture by three armed men mounted on camels close to Garney.
“They planned to decapitate me using a knife,” he tells, displaying his arm, which one of the fighters hit with the butt of an AK-47 rifle. “Then one of them recognised me – his sibling had collaborated with me – and begged them not to kill me. Our group contained 18 individuals who left El Fasher together, yet merely eight reached Tawila. I assume the others died.”
Yagoub states he observed 22 corpses close to what he described as a “fake well” utilized by RSF forces and partner armed groups in the area connecting Garney and Tawila. “It represents a trap,” he explains. “Persons journey daily without hydration, and when they get to it, the armed groups lie in wait. They slaughtered 22 men on that spot and took the bodies away to conceal them.”
An additional nurse who ran from South El Fasher hospital after the attack on Sunday stated RSF combatants came in using one doorway and commenced firing upon patients in the emergency ward, causing at least eight fatalities. “We escaped through a different gate, but they hit me on the head with a rifle,” he says.
In a video statement on Wednesday, the RSF commander, General Dagalo, referred to as Hemedti, stated that any military personnel or officer who had “violated the right of any person” would be held accountable.
Several people who got away El Fasher spent hours taking cover close to army artillery positions prior to escaping westward under cover of darkness. Previously displaced households from Abu Shouk camp in the city were forced to move again, taking asylum in the Daraja Oula district before eventually heading for Tawila.
People apprehended by RSF forces in Garney were reportedly given {water mixed with flour|flour
