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

Shaken, scratched and left with only the clothes he was wearing, Ezzeldin Hasan Musa describes the brutality of Sudanese Rapid Support Forces (RSF) after the paramilitary group took control of the city of al-Fasher in the Darfur region.

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

Now lying exhausted on a mat under a gazebo in the town of Tawila, Ezzeldin is one of several thousand people who managed to reach relative safety after fleeing what the UN described as “horrific” violence.

On Wednesday, RSF leader General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo acknowledged the “violations” at al-Fasher and said they would be investigated. A day later, a senior UN official said RSF had reported arresting some suspects.

About a 80-kilometer (50-mile) journey from Al-Fasher, Tawila is one of the few places where those lucky enough to evade RSF fighters escape.

“We left Al-Fasher four days ago. The suffering we encountered on the way was unimaginable,” says Ezzeldin.

“We were divided into groups and beaten. The scenes were extremely brutal. We saw people being killed in front of us. We saw people being beaten. It was really scary.

“I was also hit on my head, back and legs. They beat me with sticks. They wanted to execute us completely. However, when we had the opportunity, we escaped and those in front were detained.”

Ezzeldin says he joined a group of fugitives who took shelter in a building, moving at night and sometimes literally crawling on the ground in an attempt to remain hidden.

“Our belongings were stolen,” he says. “Phones, clothes, everything. Even my shoes were stolen. There was nothing left.

“We starved while wandering the streets for 3 days. With God’s permission, we survived.”

Those in Tawila told the BBC that men who made the journey would be subject to particular scrutiny by the RSF, with fighters targeting anyone suspected of being a soldier.

Ezzeldin is one of about 5,000 people thought to have arrived in Tawila since the fall of al-Fasher on Sunday.

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

A Tawila-based freelance journalist working for the BBC conducted initial interviews with some of those who embarked on the journey.

Sitting near Ezzeldin is Ahmed Ismail Ibrahim, who has bandages on many parts of his body.

He said that his eye was injured in the artillery attack and that he left the city on Sunday after receiving treatment in the hospital.

He and six other men were stopped by RSF fighters.

“They killed the four of them in front of our eyes. They beat them to death,” he says, adding that he was shot three times.

Ahmed describes how the fighters called them by asking to see the phones of the three survivors and searching their messages.

He says one fighter eventually told them: “Okay, get up and go.” They fled into the bushes.

“My brothers,” he adds, “didn’t leave me behind.

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

In the next tent at the clinic run by the medical aid organization Doctors Without Borders (MSF), Yusra Ibrahim Mohamed explains that she decided to flee the city after the murder of her husband, a soldier in the Sudanese army.

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

“We acted patiently. Then the clashes and attacks continued. We managed to escape.

“Three days ago we set out from the artillery fields in different directions,” he says. “The people guiding us didn’t know what was going on.

“If someone resisted they would be beaten or robbed. They would take everything you had. People could even be executed. I saw dead bodies in the streets.”

Alfadil Dukhan works at the MSF clinic.

He and his colleagues provide emergency care to those arriving; He says there are 500 people in need of urgent medical treatment among them.

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

“The injured are suffering and some already have amputations.

“So they’re really in a lot of pain. And we’re trying to get them some support and medical care.”

Those who came to Tawila this week joined hundreds of thousands of people who fled earlier violence in Al-Fasher.

The city was under siege for 18 months before it was captured by the RSF on Sunday.

As army and paramilitary forces fought for Al-Fasher, those trapped inside were bombarded with deadly artillery and air strikes.

And they were plunged into a serious hunger crisis due to the RSF blockade of supplies and aid.

Hundreds of thousands of people were displaced in April when the RSF took control of the Zamzam camp close to the city; At the time, this camp was one of the main shelters for people who had to flee conflicts elsewhere.

Some experts have expressed concern about the relatively low number of arrivals in places like Tawila at the moment.

“This is actually a worrying point for us,” says Caroline Bouvoir, who works with refugees in neighboring Chad at the charity Solidarités International.

“We’ve had about 5,000 people come in the last few days, which obviously isn’t that many, considering we think there’s still around a quarter of a million people in the city,” he says.

“We see the conditions of those arriving: They are extremely malnourished, extremely dehydrated, sick or injured, and clearly traumatized by what they see both in the city and on the road.

“We believe that many people are currently stuck in different places between Tawila and Al-Fasher and are unable to move forward, either due to their physical condition or due to insecurity on the road, where militias are unfortunately attacking people trying to find safe shelter.”

For Ezzeldin, the relief of reaching safety is overshadowed by the fears of those still behind him on the journey.

“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 situation; they cannot move, speak or call for help.

“Help must reach them because so many are experiencing loss and pain.”