Sudan is facing one of Africa’s worst disasters ever. Fear, panic and a sense of hopelessness have spread throughout the country. According to the UN’s emergency aid department, a total of over 10.7 million people have fled their homes due to the brutal situation in Sudan, but no one has found safety. Bashier and Zainab are two of those who have not yet made it out of the country, but are internally displaced. The two lived different lives before the war and do not know each other. Now they share the same fate. 25-year-old Zainab tells about life before the war. She describes herself as funny and sociable. Enjoyed riding, mountain climbing, and spent his free time hanging out with friends. Now they are all spread out at home and abroad. When the war broke out, she had a couple of exams at the medical school. – All I want now is to get to Egypt, so that I can complete my medical education and help my family. But she has been told that a visa to Egypt costs NOK 30,000, and that is money she does not have. Bashier worked as a teacher and trader before the war broke out. Now he depicts a life that has been put on hold for almost a year. Bashier (second from the right) speaks Italian, English, French and Arabic. He was satisfied with his life before the war, and worked as a trader. Photo: Private – Right now I’m just trying to survive. This is no life, everyone must be inside their houses. We are just waiting for this to end, says Bashier. Everything changed in one day. On April 15, full-scale war broke out in Khartoum, and the lives of all Sudanese were turned upside down. It is the army in Sudan and the powerful RSF militia that are at war with each other. The two groups have had military control of the country since they seized power in 2021. This is not a war where there is good versus bad. On the one hand, there is an army made up of Islamists, who want a state governed according to Islamist rules, without particular democracy. Wanting to introduce democracy is not something the other side has shown particular signs of either. On the contrary, the Rapid Support Forces, better known as the RSF, have become known for being brutal, and they are also responsible for genocide in the western region of Darfur. JULY 2023 The capital Khartoum split in two. Fighting is in full swing in the city streets. The Sudanese army controls the port city of Port Sudan, but also east towards Ethiopia. The RSF militia controls the west, but does not have full control. The militia constantly attacked local militias and ethnic groups. NOVEMBER 2024 Four months have passed and the RSF begins to take control of large parts. In the capital Khartoum, fighting is still going on, and millions have fled south towards the city of Wad Madani – a peaceful port in the middle of the war. FEBRUARY 2024 RSF – the militia has seriously taken control of the war. Now the feared militia has also conquered Wad Madani, and millions have once again been forced to flee. Bashier tells about the day it all started. – It was an ordinary day. I got up early, before the sun got too strong, and went for a walk. Suddenly I hear gunfire, Bashier says. Bashier before the war broke out. Now he says that his greatest wish is peace, and that the war will end. Photo: Privat He looks back on the first months as absolutely horrible. Most of the people he knows left. Bashier was left alone. He was hopeful that the fighting would subside. – It is the biggest mistake I have made in my life. I was all alone in my friend’s house, terrified that the soldiers would find me and kill me. Later, therefore, the campaigns have spread. Today, Sudan has become a lawless country, with battles on several fronts, and an entire society that has been destroyed by war. RSF soldiers stole a car in the neighborhood of Bashier. Photo: Private Raiding and rape became everyday The warring parties are starved of money, and they want more of it. Losing access to Sudan’s gold and minerals could mean a crisis for the men at the top, who have bought themselves both friends and power by robbing what is actually Sudan’s common property. If you have soldiers with weapons, you can control more land, extract more values and earn more money. And when you get more money, you can recruit more soldiers. It’s a violent spiral. For several months, the war raged in Khartoum, the hometown of Bashier and Zainab. Armed men entered people’s homes. There were many stories of break-ins, raiding, rapes and indiscriminate shooting. – When I run out of food and water, I have to go out into the streets. One is always stopped and questioned by RSF soldiers, says Bashier. Wad Madani should be safe After almost a year of war, large parts of the city have been destroyed. The community is closed down. Bashier says that he stays inside, and only goes out when he runs out of food and water. After several months of war, life in Khartoum became unbearable for Bashier. He decided this summer to travel to Wad Madani, the town many Sudanese saw as a safe haven, some distance from the front lines. Here he was able to eat well and sleep safely inside. After several months alone in his friend’s house in the capital, Bashier had a great need to be outside when he finally arrived at Wad Madani. – I wanted to sleep outside, because I wanted to look at the stars. It was a dream. People sat outside in the streets, drinking tea and relaxing. It was amazing to see. People lived normal lives, while I was used to war. Bashier describes being in Wad Madani as “being born again”. Here he got to experience what an almost normal life was like. Medical student Zainab also traveled from Khartoum to Wad Madani, together with fellow students. Here they were at a safe distance from the war, but life stood still. Zainab lived with study friends in Wad Madani, under particularly primitive conditions. Photo: Privat When the war broke out, they were close to finishing their five-year medical training. Society has been closed down ever since, including the university. In Wad Madani they were far from their families, and felt increasingly depressed. The campaigns moved So the pain would get worse. In December, Bashier and Zainab woke up once again to the sound of bombs. The fighting had moved to Wad Madani, the town that was supposed to be a safe haven. There was a replay. This time Bashier didn’t wait, it was about getting hold of a car or finding a bus. He traveled for over a day, and remembers countless stops by RSF soldiers. He was taken to a house and interrogated together with several others. Finally they let him go, and he returned to Khartoum. When Bashier returned to Khartoum, his house was destroyed and all his valuables were stolen, he says. – I now live with some relatives, but we can’t do anything. We sit inside, hear planes and gunfire, and just try to survive. Several hundred thousand Sudanese once again had to pack up their lives in December and flee from Wad Madani. Photo: AFP Zainab also traveled from Wad Madani, to her family in Halfa, in the far north of Sudan. It took several days, and she also describes harassment by RSF soldiers on the road. The most important thing on the long flight was not to make eye contact with the soldiers, she says. – I am now finally with my family in Halfa, but we feel completely lost. We are completely trapped here, and my father in particular feels completely helpless, says Zainab. Ethnic cleansing in the West If there is a part of the world that has ended up in the shadow of the news, it is Darfur. This part of Sudan is life-threatening, even for aid workers. The messages coming from Darfur are reminiscent of messages the world has barely heard in the past. There are signs of genocide. Ethnic cleansing. People groups with African appearance are hunted by soldiers with Arab appearance. A report from Human Rights Watch shows that women and girls have been systematically raped on a large scale. Darfur is the stronghold of the RSF militia. It was here that the militia grew up under former dictator Omar al-Bashir. RSF leader Hemedti made a fortune hunting rebels from ethnic groups such as Masalit, Seghawa and Fur. Analysts believe that RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo is trying to take over all of Sudan. Photo: Yasuyoshi Chiba / AFP Between 2003 and 2013, over 300,000 people were killed in Darfur, according to the UN. Bashir was wanted by the International Criminal Court, guilty of genocide in Darfur. Sudan denied that the death toll was true, and Bashir has never been brought to justice. Now the dictator’s foremost butcher in Darfur, RSF leader Hemedti, has stepped up. He is about to tighten his grip, not only on Darfur, but the whole of Sudan. What now? During ten months of war, many attempts have been made to establish talks. Until now, the warlords have shown no particular interest in it. The latest initiative is negotiations in Bahrain. Several high-ranking leaders on both sides of the conflict participated, which has not always been the case in the past. On 22 February at the latest, the Sudan Tribune reported that a peace plan could be just around the corner. But there have also been many similar messages in the past. There are signs that RSF leader Hemedti is starting to position himself to become head of state. He has gone on tour around Africa, dressed in civilian clothes. RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in January. Photo: Government Communication And Information System (GCIS) / AFP At the same time, there are constant testimonies about how the soldiers of the one who is now most likely to be able to win the war in Sudan, are carrying on with what is referred to as the “slaughter” of people in Darfur .
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