Boy escapes from el-Fasher amid accusations of espionage

Twelve-year-old Abdiwahab – not his real name – sobs as he recounts what happened to him as he fled the western Sudanese town of el-Fasher.

The young boy left El-Fasher on Sunday when he fell into the hands of the paramilitary Rapid Support Force (RSF), the paramilitary group that has been fighting a two-and-a-half-year civil war against the army.

In a video obtained by the BBC, his face shows deep grief and fatigue, his voice low as he describes being attacked “many times” by RSF fighters.

Fearing reprisal attacks by RSF fighters, Abdiwahab joined a wave of people – including some of his family – trying to escape.

The UN estimates that 60,000 managed to escape el-Fasher, with many telling horrific stories of atrocities, including rape.

After three days of walking, Abdiwahab reached the relatively safe place of Tawilah – an 80-kilometer (50-mile) journey – but he arrived alone.

“I left the city with my father and my brothers and sisters, but because of the chaos we were separated, I came to Tavilah alone,” he says in the video.

He was attacked on the way and accused of espionage.

“I was walking on the road and on the road (RSF) they caught me many times. They beat me and hit me saying ‘this little boy is a spy.’

This coincides with other accounts of how men and boys are particularly at risk as they face arbitrary arrest, violence and summary execution.

Abdiwahab says that RSF fighters already took his mother and one of his sisters about a month ago and he does not know if they are still alive.

Ali, not his real name, who is now a humanitarian aid volunteer after escaping El-Fasher himself two weeks ago, was the one who recorded Abdiwahab’s account.

It is located at the entrance to Tawila, where a temporary camp has been set up and where new arrivals are gathered before being moved to permanent camps in the town.

In a voice note to the BBC explaining the context, Ali’s words were almost drowned out by the noise and chaos in the camp.

“(Abdiwahab) keeps asking me about his parents. I decided to take him home until we find them,” says Ali.

He noticed how traumatized the boy was, fearing that any light that appeared in the night was an RSF vehicle coming to get him.

“He saw a light in the distance and gripped me tightly, screaming. He froze.”

Ali says each new arrival at the camp brings a story of survival and despair.

Many unaccompanied minors arrive daily, including children who have lost their parents on the road.

“Also yesterday, twin children of around 10 arrived with a woman who said their parents had died on the way,” says the volunteer.

“The situation is terrifying. People keep arriving with many illnesses, some with injuries and malnutrition. Those who have arrived are asking us to go and save people on the way because many are dying trying to come to Tawila,” says Ali.

Survivors described “passing dead bodies strewn across the road and hearing the cries of the wounded crying for help”.

But even relief work has turned deadly.

Ali says organizations working in Tawila are afraid to leave the city after five Red Crescent volunteers were killed in another state earlier this week.

“They are waiting for assurances and confirmation that the situation is safe,” he says.

Many mothers arriving in Tawila are in desperate need of food, water and medical care, according to the charity Save the Children.

Some women reported being attacked by armed men on motorcycles and robbed as they fled.

“The women who managed to escape with their children as the fighting raged reached Tawila without food or water. They are now completely dependent on the already deployed humanitarian aid,” the aid agency said in a statement.

The UN refugee agency said it was struggling to find enough shelter and food for civilians seeking refuge in the city.

But not all make it out of El Fasher, where there have been reports of mass killings.

This week, RSF leader General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo acknowledged “violations” in the city and said they would be investigated. A senior UN official said the RSF had notified that they had arrested some suspects.

Estimates of how many civilians are still trapped in the city vary.

Save the Children puts it at more than 260,000 people, including around 130,000 children, who have to contend with famine-like conditions, collapsed health services and no safe way out.