El-Fasher Horror: Survivors Reach Tawila Describe Mass Killings, Starvation and Abductions

New details from el-Fasher as survivors arrive in Tawila

Streets strewn with corpses, families torn apart and people fleeing for days without food or water — these are the accounts arriving from those who escaped el-Fasher after it fell to paramilitary forces on October 26, following an asphyxiating 18-month siege.

Fatima Yahya arrived in Tawila, a town west of el-Fasher in North Darfur State under the control of a neutral force. Traumatised after three days without food, she says her husband and uncle are missing. In her words:

“The dead bodies were everywhere — in the streets, inside houses and at the gates of many houses. Wherever you are in el-Fasher, you will see dead bodies scattered.”

Her testimony is one of many from people who fled North Darfur’s capital after the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group fighting Sudan’s regular army, captured the city on October 26. The RSF’s takeover gave it control of the last major Darfur city previously held by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), consolidating its grip across the region.

Witness accounts and forensic indicators

Since the fall of el-Fasher — a city that had a pre-war population in excess of one million — multiple reports have alleged mass executions, sexual violence and large-scale looting. Satellite imagery analysed by Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab identified at least 31 locations where objects consistent with human bodies appeared after the capture, sometimes accompanied by reddish ground discolouration.

Many who fled described journeys made far harder by injuries from the fighting. Farhat Said told Al Jazeera she and her daughter left while both recovering from artillery wounds; her husband, who suffered a severe hip fracture during bombardment, had to be left behind. Their trek to Tawila — roughly 65 km (40 miles) west of el-Fasher — took two days on foot and included passing through RSF checkpoints.

Khadiga Abdalla, 46, said she lost her husband to RSF bombardment the previous year and was herself wounded. Siege conditions forced residents to survive on whatever was available: "We did not get our usual food, the sorghum, for six months," she said, and recalled eating ambaz, a residue normally fed to livestock.

Health, displacement and humanitarian strain

These personal accounts align with wider evidence of systematic violence. The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that at least 460 patients were killed in attacks on the Saudi maternity hospital in el-Fasher and that health workers were taken during the initial assault, according to WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier.

Medical teams from Doctors Without Borders (MSF) screening arrivals in Tawila reported severe malnutrition among children under five. Survivors also show signs of physical abuse, including bullet wounds and torture marks, along with digestive problems linked to months of eating food intended for animals.

The International Organization for Migration estimates more than 70,000 people have been displaced from el-Fasher and surrounding areas since October 26. Tawila — which already shelters more than 652,000 displaced people — has received far fewer arrivals than el-Fasher’s pre-war population would suggest, raising concerns that many civilians remain dead, detained or hiding.

International reaction and accountability

Mirjana Spoljaric, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, described conditions as horrific and warned that tens of thousands may be trapped without reliable access to food, water or medical care. Pope Francis joined international condemnation, denouncing indiscriminate violence against civilians and calling for immediate ceasefires and humanitarian corridors.

U.S. senators from both parties have urged stronger measures. Senator Jim Risch, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called for the RSF to be designated as a foreign terrorist organisation. The RSF has said it arrested several fighters, including a commander named Abu Lulu, who appeared in execution videos verified by Al Jazeera’s Sanad agency.

For survivors now in overcrowded displacement camps with minimal support, questions about accountability can seem distant. Aid workers in Tawila say the sudden arrivals strained their capacity to shelter people and deliver essentials. As one displaced mother put it, "We pray to God to help us," a plea shared by thousands who made the same desperate escape from el-Fasher.