“The streets were strewn with corpses. They killed, oh yes, they killed… Children, women, men. Some were crushed under vehicles. It was a vision of horror,” said Mariam (her name was changed), a resident of el-Fasher who took refuge in Tawila, about 50 kilometers west of the capital of North Darfur, which fell to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on October 26.

More than a week after the paramilitaries’ final assault on the city, which reportedly left several thousand civilians dead – though no reliable toll can be established – testimonies have been trickling in, in step with the civilians’ flight. Apart from footage filmed and shared by the men of General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, little information has emerged from the city. Le Monde gathered numerous audio, video and written accounts shared by independent sources from Tawila.

“They also captured children… Girls of 11 and 12… To this day, we do not know where they are. We have not found them, not even their bodies,” Mariam added. On the night of Saturday, October 25, after a shell hit her house, the family hid in an underground shelter. Then, around 5 am, as soldiers entered homes one after another, Mariam and her relatives climbed over a neighbor’s wall and fled northward.

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