‘We saw people murdered in front of us’ – Sudan siege survivors speak to the BBC

Shaken, scratched and left with just the clothes he is wearing, Ezzeldin Hassan Musa describes the brutality of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in the wake of the paramilitary group taking control of el-Fasher city in the Darfur region.

He says its fighters tortured and murdered men trying to flee.

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

On Wednesday, RSF leader Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo admitted to “violations” in el-Fasher and said they would be investigated. A day later a senior UN official said the RSF had given notice that they had arrested some suspects.

About an 80km (50-mile) journey from el-Fasher, Tawila is one of several places where those lucky enough to escape the RSF fighters are fleeing to.

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

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

“I myself was hit on the head, back, and legs. They beat me with sticks. They wanted to execute us completely. But when the opportunity arose, we ran, while others in front were detained.”

Ezzeldin says he joined a group of escapees who took shelter in a building, moving by night and sometimes literally crawling along the ground in an effort to remain hidden.

“Our belongings were stolen,” he says. “Phones, clothes – everything. Literally, even my shoes were stolen. Nothing was left.

“We went without food for three days while walking in the streets. By God’s mercy, we made it through.”

Those in Tawila told the BBC that men making the journey were particularly likely to be subjected to scrutiny by the RSF, with fighters targeting anyone suspected of being a soldier.

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

Many have made the entire journey on foot, travelling for three or four days to flee the violence.

A freelance journalist based in Tawila, working for the BBC, has conducted among the first interviews with some of those who made the journey.

Near to Ezzeldin sits Ahmed Ismail Ibrahim, his body bandaged in several places.

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

He and six other men were stopped by RSF fighters.

“Four of them – they killed them in front of us. Beat them and killed them,” he says, adding that he was shot three times.

Ahmed describes how the fighters demanded to see the phones of the three who were left alive and went through them, searching their messages.

One fighter, he says, finally told them: “OK, get up and go.” They fled into the scrub.

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

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

In the next tent in the clinic run by medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), Yusra Ibrahim Mohamed describes making the decision to flee the city after her husband, a soldier with the Sudanese army, was killed.

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

“We stayed patient. Then the clashes and attacks continued. We managed to escape.

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

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

Alfadil Dukhan works in the MSF clinic.

He and his colleagues have been providing emergency care to those who arrive – among them, he says, are 500 in need of urgent medical treatment.

“Most of the new arrivals are elders and women or children,” the medic says.

“The wounded are suffering, and some of them they already have amputations.

“So they are really suffering a lot. And we are trying to just give them some support and some medical care.”

Those arriving this week in Tawila join hundreds of thousands there who fled previous rounds of violence in el-Fasher.

Before its seizure by the RSF on Sunday, the city had been besieged for 18 months.

Those trapped inside were bombarded by a barrage of deadly artillery and air strikes as the army and the paramilitaries battled for el-Fasher.

And they were plunged into a severe hunger crisis by an RSF blockade of supplies and aid.

Hundreds of thousands were displaced in April when the RSF seized control of the Zamzam camp close to the city, at the time one of the main sites housing people forced to flee fighting elsewhere.

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

“This is actually a point of worry for us,” says Caroline Bouvoir, who works with refugees in neighbouring Chad for the aid agency Solidarités International

“In the past few days we have about 5,000 people who have arrived, which considering we believe there were about a quarter of a million people still in the city, that is obviously not that many,” she says.

“We see the conditions that those who have arrived are in. They are highly malnourished, highly dehydrated, or sick or injured, and they are clearly traumatised with what they have seen either in the city or on the road.

“We believe that many people are stuck currently in different locations between Tawila and el-Fasher, and unable to move forward – either because of their physical condition or because of the insecurity on the road, where militias are unfortunately attacking people who are trying to find safe haven.”

For Ezzeldin the relief of having reached safety is tempered by the fears for those still behind him on the journey.

“My message is that public roads should be secured for citizens,” he pleads, “or humanitarian aid sent to the streets.

“People are in a critical state – they can’t move, speak, or seek help.

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