A survivor from the last functioning hospital in the Sudanese city of El-Fasher has described harrowing scenes of death and destruction after paramilitary forces reportedly carried out a brutal massacre.
Abdu-Rabbu Ahmed, a laboratory technician at the Saudi Maternity Hospital, said he fled just before the killings began, leaving behind colleagues, patients, and loved ones. Now living in a displaced persons camp in Tawila, about 70 kilometers west of El-Fasher, he says the trauma has stripped him of all happiness.
“I have lost my colleagues,” he said. “I have lost the people whose faces I used to see smiling. It feels as if you lost a big part of your body or your soul.”
The massacre took place after paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) seized control of El-Fasher in late October, following an 18-month siege. The RSF and Sudanese army have been locked in a deadly power struggle since April 2023, plunging the country into one of Africa’s worst humanitarian crises.
Witnesses and humanitarian groups report that at least 460 patients and their companions were killed in the attack. Medical staff who refused to flee were executed, and six health workers, including four doctors, were abducted. Some reports indicate that one of them was released after a ransom of $30,000 was paid, while another was killed.
The RSF has denied responsibility, calling the claims disinformation. However, satellite imagery and witness testimonies tell a different story. Images taken between October 31 and November 6 show evidence of blood and what appear to be charred bodies in the hospital compound.
Ahmed recalled that the hospital had been under constant bombardment for months before the final assault. Doctors and nurses worked amid shelling from artillery and drones, sharing meager rations as the RSF blockade cut off supplies.
“The shelling started around six in the morning,” he said. “Everyone ran toward the southern side of the city. There was a state of terror, and as we walked, drones were bombing us. I saw many people die on the spot.”
Many who escaped were later captured in nearby villages, including Garni, Turra, and Korma. Those who reached Tawila now live in makeshift tents, struggling to find food and water.
Ahmed also lost much of his family during the massacre — a sister and two brothers were killed, and his parents remain missing. “I am very worried about the people still in El-Fasher,” he said. “They may be killed, or used as human shields.”
Satellite analysis by independent research groups has further supported claims of mass killings and the burning of bodies within the hospital grounds, deepening international outrage over the escalating violence in Darfur.
As Sudan’s civil war continues, the country’s civilians bear the heaviest burden. Entire cities have been reduced to ruins, hospitals destroyed, and millions displaced.
From his tent in Tawila, Ahmed says he survives only in body, not in spirit. “What is left of us now is just existence,” he murmured. “Hope died in El-Fasher.”
Leave a comment