‘Civilians were slain in their beds’: mayhem and cruelty dominate after fall of El Fasher
A nurse named Nawal Khalil had been working as a medical volunteer for three years at El Fasher South hospital when the city was taken over on Sunday by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). She was occupied with patient care, among them an older female patient who needed a blood transfusion, as the assault commenced.
“They murdered six wounded military personnel and civilians in their beds – some of them women,” she recounts. “I am unaware of the fate regarding my other patients. I was forced to flee as they invaded the hospital.”
The 27-year-old Khalil, received a gunshot wound to her right foot and thigh while RSF combatants gained control of the nearby military headquarters. She fled the city and traveled on foot for one day, injured and without food, to get to the settlement of Garney. “During the journey, they seized my mobile and currency,” she explains. “I was left with nothing.”
Over a thousand individuals – comprising women and children – journeyed by walking for 48 hours to arrive at Tawila town in North Darfur after fleeing El Fasher, which fell under control after an 18-month siege.
The town of Tawila, around 55 kilometers to the west from El Fasher, is under the control of the Sudan Liberation Army faction led by Abdul Wahid Mohamed al-Nur (SLA-AW).
On Tuesday, the allied Joint Forces – who are allied with Sudan’s army – accused the RSF for slaughtering in excess of 2,000 non-combatants since the fall of the city. The UN said that footage existed featuring numerous unarmed males either being shot or deceased, with RSF militiamen around them.”
Contextual Information
Conflict erupted within Khartoum back on April 15, 2023 as a growing contest for power involving the two key groups within the military government ultimately became violent.
Among the combatants are the Sudanese armed forces, that stay mostly faithful to Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the nation's actual leader. Against him stand the paramilitary forces of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), an assembly of militia groups that obey the former warlord General Dagalo, referred to as Hemedti.
The Rapid Support Forces were first created by the former dictatorial ruler Omar al-Bashir as an Arab anti-rebellion militia named the Janjaweed, which soon became linked with extensive brutalities. Back in 2013, Bashir reformed the faction into the Rapid Support Forces, using them to quell a new uprising in South Darfur.
The fighting has thrown Sudan into “one of the worst humanitarian nightmares in recent history”, as per UN representatives. It has produced the planet's biggest displacement catastrophe, forcing more than 10 million persons within the country plus 4 million who escaped into neighbouring countries, generating growing stress on Chad and South Sudan.
Current Situation Updates
Per observer reports, numerous more non-combatants stay confined by RSF forces and associated armed groups within Garney, in the southwestern direction from El Fasher. Many are former soldiers belonging to the Sudanese military, the allied Joint Forces and other militant organizations which had been combatting together with the army. They are apparently detained because they cannot afford extortion payments of between 5m and 10m Sudanese pounds (£6,000 to £12,000), per those who escaped who arrived in Tawila. Those unable to pay remain imprisoned for several days, and occasionally released only after becoming gravely ill.
Reports suggest the SLA-AW has authorized government troops fleeing El Fasher to access Tawila on condition they surrender their weapons.
The individual Adam Yagoub, twenty-eight years old, a motorist originating from Sennar within central Sudan, narrowly escaped being killed following his capture by three camel-riding militiamen close to Garney.
“They intended to behead me using a knife,” he recounts, displaying his arm, which one of the fighters hit 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 left El Fasher together, yet merely eight reached Tawila. I assume the others died.”
Yagoub reports he saw 22 bodies in proximity to what he termed a deceptive well employed by the RSF and partner armed groups in the area connecting Garney and Tawila. “It represents a trap,” he explains. “People walk all day without water, and upon arriving there, the armed groups lie in wait. They killed 22 men there and carried the bodies off to obscure them.”
An additional nurse who fled the El Fasher South medical facility after the attack on Sunday said RSF fighters entered using one doorway and opened fire on patients within the emergency department, causing at least eight fatalities. “We ran out via another entrance, but they hit me on the head with a firearm,” he states.
In a video statement this past Wednesday, the head of the RSF, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, called Hemedti, declared that any fighter or officer who had “violated the right of any individual would face consequences.
Several people who got away El Fasher spent hours concealing themselves near military artillery prior to escaping westward during nighttime. Already displaced families originating from the urban Abu Shouk settlement were forced to move again, seeking refuge in the Daraja Oula neighbourhood before finally moving toward Tawila.
People apprehended by RSF forces in Garney were apparently provided {water mixed with flour|flour
