The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and allied militias have escalated atrocities against civilians fleeing El Fasher toward Tawila in North Darfur State. In addition to killings and abductions, survivors reported that RSF fighters forcibly extracted blood from displaced persons, leading to multiple deaths.
Eyewitnesses told Sudan Tribune on Saturday that “the crimes included killings, kidnappings, arbitrary detentions, and blood extractions from civilians without proper medical precautions.”
Three survivors who reached Tawila said at least 10 people died shortly after forced blood withdrawals.
Younes, a displaced person who fled Abu Shouk camp near El Fasher, said that on August 26, RSF forces accompanied by an ambulance intercepted them near the town of Garni, west of El Fasher. The group was accused of being Sudanese army soldiers attempting to escape. RSF fighters beat them and forced six young men into the ambulance, where medics drew blood without prior testing. Three of the men died en route to Tawila due to complications.
Other survivors confirmed that between August 1 and 30, RSF forces extracted blood from displaced persons, causing at least seven additional deaths.
Meanwhile, Mohamed Khamis Doda, spokesperson for Zamzam camp, told Sudan Tribune that RSF fighters killed about 15 civilians along the El Fasher–Tawila road in the past two weeks. He reported dozens of bodies left unburied, most of them displaced from Zamzam camp.
Doda accused the Sudan Founding Coalition (“Tasis”) of luring residents out of El Fasher, only for them to be ambushed, killed, or detained by RSF forces, who then demanded ransoms for their release.
He also said that RSF had converted Zamzam camp into a military garrison, establishing field hospitals where healthy young men were forced to donate blood for wounded fighters. Civilians were also reportedly subjected to forced labor.
Separately, Abu Shouk camp’s spokesperson told Sudan Tribune that nearly 90 civilians had been executed along the El Fasher–Tawila road in recent days. He added that RSF controlled all exit routes from El Fasher and routinely killed civilians attempting to flee, branding them army collaborators.
According to camp leaders, as many as 60% of those who attempted to escape El Fasher in recent weeks were executed by RSF gunmen.
