Mr Mohamed escaped, but others did not. Mr Ali said he saw from a distance the RSF open fire on a group of men.
“They killed the men, they didn’t kill the women, but the men were all shot,” he told the BBC. “There were a lot dead and we ran away.”
Mr Ali and Mr Adam left Gurni on donkeys, travelling by night to the next village, Tur’rah.
Mr Mohamed also made it to Tur’rah, where he was reunited with his girls. From there they took vehicles for the long drive to al-Dabbah.
Many arrived at the camp empty handed. They had left the city carrying almost nothing and had to pay to get through checkpoints.
“The RSF fighters stripped us of everything we had: money, phones, even our nice clothes,” Mr Adam said. “At each stop they would make you call your relatives to transfer money to your mobile phone account before they let you move on to the next checkpoint.”
The RSF told the BBC it rejected accusations of systematic abuses against civilians.
“The specific allegations raised – looting, killings, sexual violence, or mistreatment of civilians – do not reflect our directives,” said Dr Ibrahim Mukhayer, an adviser to the leader of RSF, Gen Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo.
“Any RSF member proven responsible for wrongdoing will be held fully accountable.”
He said the group believed the allegations of widespread atrocities were part of a politically motivated media campaign against them by what he called Islamist elements within Sudan’s military-led administration.
The RSF has published videos to try and reshape the narrative, showing its officers greeting people fleeing el-Fasher, trucks bringing in humanitarian aid, and medical centres being re-opened.
