Survivors fleeing Sudan's el-Fasher recount terror, bodies in streets

"Aid organisations fear that far fewer people than hoped have been able to leave the besieged Darfur city. People who have fled the western city of el-Fasher in wartorn Sudan are recounting scenes of horrific violence at the hands of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) as aid workers say they fear only a fraction of the besieged city's residents have managed to escape. The RSF has killed at least 1,500 people in el-Fasher, capital of North Darfur state, since seizing it Sunday, according to the Sudan Doctors Network, including at least 460 at a hospital in a widely-condemned massacre."

"Hayat, a mother of five children, told the AFP news agency via satellite phone that seven RSF fighters ransacked her home, searched her undergarments and killed her 16-year-old son in front of her. As she fled with neighbours, we saw many dead bodies lying on the ground and wounded people left behind in the open because their families couldn't carry them, she recalled. Another survivor named Hussein was wounded by shelling but made it to Tawila with the help of a family carrying their mother on a donkey cart."

"Aisha Ismael, another displaced person from el-Fasher recounted to The Associated Press news agency: Shelling and drones (attacks) were happening all the time. They hit us with the back of the rifles day and night unless we hid in the houses. At 3 in the morning we sneaked outside the houses till we arrived Hillat Alsheth (area in north Darfur) where we were looted. They left us with nothing, I came here barefoot, even my shoes were taken."

The Rapid Support Forces seized el-Fasher, North Darfur, and have been blamed for at least 1,500 deaths, including about 460 killed at a hospital. More than 36,000 people fled largely on foot to Tawila, roughly 70 kilometres west, which already shelters about 650,000 displaced persons. Aid organisations fear far fewer residents managed to escape the siege. Survivors report RSF fighters ransacking homes, searching undergarments, killing family members, continuous shelling and drone attacks, bodies left unburied, looting of belongings, and many arriving at safety barefoot and with only the clothes they wore.

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