Survivors of el-Fasher siege tell the BBC about RSF brutality

Shaken, scratched and left with only the clothes on his back, Ezz El-Din Hassan Musa describes the brutality of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces in the wake of the paramilitary group’s takeover of the city of El Fasher in the Darfur region.

He says his fighters tortured and killed men who tried to escape.

Now, in the town of Tawila, Ezzedine lies exhausted on a mat under a gazebo, one of several thousand people who have reached relative safety after escaping what the United Nations has described as “horrific” violence.

On Wednesday, the Commander of the Rapid Support Forces, Lieutenant General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, admitted that “violations” had occurred in El Fasher, and said that they would be investigated. A day later, a senior UN official said the RSF had given notice that they had arrested some suspects.

Tawila is located about 80 kilometers (50 miles) from El Fasher, and is one of several places to which those lucky enough to escape RSF fighters can flee.

“We left El Fasher four days ago,” says Ezzedine. “The suffering we faced on the way was unimaginable.”

“We were divided into groups and beaten. The scenes were very brutal. We saw people being killed in front of our eyes. We saw people being beaten. It was really terrible.”

“I personally was beaten on my head, back and legs. They beat me with sticks. They wanted to execute us completely. But when the opportunity arose, we fled, while the others who were in front of us were arrested.”

Ezz El-Din says he joined a group of fugitives who had taken refuge in a building, moving at night, sometimes literally crawling on the ground in an attempt to stay hidden.

“Our property was stolen,” he says. “Phones, clothes, everything. Literally, even my shoes were stolen. There was nothing left.

“We went without food for three days while we walked in the streets. With God’s mercy, we survived.”

Those in Tawila told the BBC that men who make the journey are more likely to be subject to scrutiny by the Rapid Support Forces, with fighters targeting anyone they suspect of being a soldier.

Ezzedine is one of about 5,000 people believed to have arrived in Tawila since the fall of El Fasher on Sunday.

Many made the entire journey on foot, traveling for three or four days to escape the violence.

A Taweelah-based freelance journalist for the BBC conducted some of the first interviews with some of those who made the journey.

Near Ezzedine sits Ahmed Ismail Ibrahim, his body wrapped in several places.

He says that his eye was injured in an artillery shelling, and he left the city on Sunday after receiving treatment in the hospital.

Rapid Support Forces fighters stopped him and six other men.

“Four of them – they killed them in front of us. They beat them and killed them,” he says, adding that he was hit by three bullets.

Ahmed describes how the fighters demanded access to the phones of the three who survived, searched them and searched through their messages.

He says one of the fighters finally told them: “Okay, get up and go.” They fled to the scrub.

He adds: “My brothers, they did not leave me behind.

“We walked for about 10 minutes, then rested for 10 minutes, and continued until we found peace now.”

In the adjacent tent at the clinic run by the charity Doctors Without Borders, Yusra Ibrahim Mohamed describes her decision to flee the city after the killing of her husband, a soldier in the Sudanese army.

“My husband was in the artillery,” she says. “He was returning to his home and was killed during the attacks,” he added.

“We were patient. Then the clashes and attacks continued. We were able to escape.

“We left three days ago, moving in different directions from the artillery areas,” she says. “The people guiding us did not know what was happening.”

“If someone resists, they get beaten or robbed. They take everything you have. People can even be executed. I’ve seen bodies in the streets.”

Mr. Dukhan works in a Doctors Without Borders clinic.

He and his colleagues have been providing emergency care to those arriving, including, he says, 500 people in need of urgent medical treatment.

“Most of the new arrivals are elderly people, women or children,” the medic says.

“The wounded are suffering, some of them are already amputees.

“So they’re really suffering a lot. We’re trying to give them some support and some medical care.”

Those arriving this week in Tawila join hundreds of thousands who have fled previous rounds of violence in El Fasher.

Before the Rapid Support Forces took control of it on Sunday, the city had been under siege for 18 months.

Those trapped inside were subjected to a deadly barrage of artillery and air strikes as army and paramilitary forces fought for control of El Fasher.

They fell into a severe hunger crisis due to the blockade imposed by the Rapid Support Forces on supplies and aid.

Hundreds of thousands were displaced in April when the Rapid Support Forces took control of the Zamzam camp near the city, which at the time was one of the main sites housing people forced to flee fighting elsewhere.

Some experts have expressed concern about the relatively low numbers arriving in places like Tawila now.

“This is actually a concern for us,” says Caroline Beauvoir, who works with refugees in neighboring Chad for Solidarités International.

“In the last few days, we’ve had about 5,000 people arrive, and given that we think there were about a quarter of a million people still in the city, that’s clearly not a lot,” she says.

“We see the conditions those who have arrived are in. They are severely malnourished, severely dehydrated, sick or injured, and clearly traumatized by what they have seen both in the city and on the road.

“We believe that many people are currently stuck in various locations between Tawila and El Fasher, unable to move forward – either due to their physical condition or due to insecurity on the road, with militias unfortunately attacking people trying to find safe haven.”

For Ezzedine, the relief he felt after reaching safety eases the fears of those still behind him on the journey.

He added: “My message is that public roads must be secured for citizens, or humanitarian aid must be sent to the streets.

“People are in a critical condition – they can’t move, talk or call for help.

“Aid must reach them, because many are missing and suffering.”