The bitter fruit of Sudans war: Thousands killed and millions displaced and fled

Mashaer Idris
The war in Sudan, which started in Khartoum and expanded to include vast areas in Darfur and Kordofan states, has completed its sixth month amid an escalation in the clashes between the two parties. It has resulted in the deaths of thousands of people and the displacement of millions of citizens from their areas to other states or outside the country. Despite intense pressure from international and regional parties, political forces, and civil groups in Sudan to stop the bloody conflict, the two parties continue to ignore calls for a ceasefire.

The United Nations speaks of the suffering of 20.3 million Sudanese from food insecurity, including more than 6 million people just a step away from famine. The World Food Program reported more than 7 million internally displaced people in Sudan before and after the outbreak of the war.

Fatima Ali began to tell the story of her city (El Obeid), the capital of North Kordofan state, which has become a scene of destruction and ruin due to the war. She said the situation in the city changed from the early days of the war, where most of the clashes were in the western part of the city, specifically in the Al-Wahda 13 neighborhood. With the escalation of clashes, dozens of families fled from the western neighborhoods to the eastern neighborhoods, which are considered safer and more secure, and are somewhat away from the line of fire.

The tight siege imposed by the Rapid Support Forces on El Obeid city has led to complex humanitarian and economic conditions. These forces impose restrictions on access to food and medicine, and hospitals suffer from a shortage of medicines, threatening to go out of service. Markets also witness skyrocketing prices for goods.

Fatima Ali said: After the intensity of clashes increased in the first months of the war, which resulted in a complete power and water outage in all neighborhoods of the city, the authorities imposed a curfew, banning movement after 6 p.m., and completely banned the movement of motorcycles.

She adds: The main source of water for the people of El Obeid has become water trucks and pumps, with the cessation of movement, lack of security, and the shutdown of most government facilities and banks. The non-payment of salaries to state employees has caused economic problems, an increase in street vendors, especially children, and a significant increase in the number of displaced people in schools, as well as a rise in the prices of consumer goods, especially ice and gasoline.

She pointed out the ongoing suffering in the health situation at El Obeid Teaching Hospital in all its departments. The (Al-Jumayeh) center for kidney dialysis announced that it stopped operating for several days due to the interruption of medicines resulting from the continued fighting and the lack of safe corridors to deliver equipment and medicines to the city.

In the capital Khartoum, lawyers said that the bloody clashes between the army and the Rapid Support Forces in the three cities of Khartoum and the state of North Kordofan resulted in the killing and wounding of at least 218 people in the past 48 hours.

In this situation of fear and anticipation, with clashes erupting at any moment, some families chose to leave the city of El Obeid. However, the main roads are unsafe due to the positions of the Rapid Support Forces that are involved in looting and killing citizens.

The Rapid Support Forces are seeking to control El Obeid for its strategic location linking the regions of Darfur and Kordofan. For this reason, they have been engaged in fierce battles against the army inside and around the city for months, resulting in the killing of large numbers of civilians.

The intensity of military confrontations between the army and the Rapid Support Forces in Omdurman has increased in recent weeks. The latter is seeking to besiege the armys camps located in the Karari locality, north of Omdurman, including the Wadi Sayidna military base from which most of the warplanes that target the Rapid Support Forces positions in the three cities of Khartoum take off.

Journalist Ammar Hassan, residing in Omdurman, mentioned a significant wave of displacement of citizens residing in the western neighborhoods, including the revolutions 29, 16, 24, 25, 23, 13, and 14. These areas have been exposed to intense clashes, and it seems that there are attempts to forcibly displace the residents from these areas.
The areas of northern Omdurman: Al-Mahdiyah, the first, third, fifth, eighth, and tenth neighborhoods, as well as the Al-Jarafa area, north of Karari, have become hotspots for battles, similar to areas in northern Bahri and others.

Ammar explained that his area in the western neighborhoods is experiencing a massive wave of displacement. Citizens are unable to move their furniture from their homes, forcing them to transport their belongings using carts drawn by donkeys and other primitive manual means of transportation. He confirmed the weakness of essential services in those areas, such as the closure of most bakeries, commercial shops, and markets in the neighborhoods where citizens get their daily basic needs. He pointed out that most stores close their doors in the evening due to the emptying of the areas and the lack of movement, and the spread of looting cases.

Hassan said that water and electricity represent a real dilemma facing these areas. The areas of western Omdurman suffer from power and water outages for days, which return for only one day, and then cut off again due to the spread of military and security forces and the difficulty of movement in the neighborhoods for water engineers to fix faults.

Meanwhile, Adam Abdullah, from the city of Nyala, the capital of South Darfur state, said that the city has suffered a lot since the beginning of the futile conflict. Many lives have been lost, and markets and citizens homes have been burned and looted, just like in the other states where the war is taking place.

The state of South Darfur has been affected by the fierce fighting that began in the capital Khartoum and spread to include 4 out of the 5 states in Darfur. Nyala and the areas of Kas, Umm Dafuq, and Marshing witnessed fierce battles between the two forces, leaving a large number of victims. According to the United Nations, about 50,000 residents of Nyala fled.

Adam confirmed the continuation of clashes around the large Nyala market, located east of the command of the 16th Infantry Division. The market is now empty of citizens and has become a battlefield.

He added that the ongoing clashes in the city have led citizens to search for an alternative market to buy their necessary life supplies. This market is the Al-Junaynah station, located west of Nyala city and is under the protection of armed movements. Most of the citys residents shop there, in addition to another market, the livestock market, located in the northern part of Nyala city and is under the control of the Rapid Support Forces. Stolen goods from homes are sold there, and the trade in weapons and drugs is active. No citizen can go there or shop from it.

Adam explained that Nyala city is living in constant and continuous terror, with gunfire from both forces, shells, and snipers. Every hour, a citizen is killed in the city, and most of the residents of Nyala have migrated, leaving the majority of the neighborhoods empty, such as Al-Wadi, Cinema, Republic, Extension, Shem Al-Naseem, and Al-Isbtaliyah, and a large part of the neighborhoods of Khartoum Bellil, Karari, and Texas. All these neighborhoods have been looted.
Currently, there is no government institution operating in Nyala city except for the general command of the armed forces. There is also a complete absence of humanitarian, relief, and health organizations, while a significant wave of displacement is taking place daily to safe states such as North Darfur or East Darfur.

Adam says that the water sources in Nyala are the water trucks that roam all over the city. There is no significant problem to mention, as no one opposes them. As for the health situation in Nyala, the Turkish hospital is currently operating at a quarter of its capacity, serving only the residents south of Nyala city. The rest of the hospitals are out of service, starting with Nyala Grand Hospital, the specialized hospital, the police hospital (the military medical service is only for the wounded from the armed forces operations), in addition to the operation of some pharmacies in the Al-Junaynah station and two health centers. These are private centers with high financial costs and without specialized doctors. There are no kidney dialysis centers in the city.