Journey of people fleeing fear in Sudan

On the morning of February 14, 2024, when many people woke up celebrating Valentine’s Day in their homes, Eliaf was living a true nightmareAt the age of 27, he is left with a mark that will be imprinted on his life forever: that day, 8 months ago, they shot him by deception while serving women El Fashersu Maternity HospitalIn SudanToday, when he remembers, his voice chokes. And cry.

his full name is elaf mohammed abdulrahman adamBut his friends call him Gumball, after the Cartoon Network cartoon. He is a doctor and prepared his whole life to get life, but fate forces him to save his life. “How will I survive here?” He thought as if he had caught a cloth stained with his own blood and was applying pressure on his thigh. The bullet fired at him by deception by a member of the Rapid Action Forces (FAR) left a wound that grazed his body.

that morning, away From Sudan, an African country battling a bloody civil war – the hospital was attacked while some women were giving birth and others were receiving treatment after being abused. Sexual and physical. In times of armed conflict, The Sudanese use them as weapons of warThere was no objection to the fact that it was a maternity hospital. For a year and a half, the paramilitary group has been engaged in a brutal confrontation with the Sudanese army It has taken the lives of 15 thousand people so far,

Eliaf remained admitted for one and a half months in the same hospital, which had fallen into ruins after continuous attacks. think about that It’s a miracle talking with bugle At this time. He doesn’t know why he was saved, but it was not yet his time to die. As the pain of the bullets subsided and the situation in North Darfur began to complicate, The young woman began planning what would later be her escape from Sudan,

,Running away was more painful than getting shot.Leaving El Fasher was quite an adventure as the city was completely taken over by the FAR. We had to risk our lives. They are ready to shoot at any time“Says the Sudanese woman who passed by four hundred oppressive kilometers Until reaching the border of South Sudan, the youngest country in the world.

North Darfur is one of the 18 states that make up the Sudanese region. It has an estimated population of one and a half million and occupies an area equivalent to that of Italy.

,This is the most terrible war in the history of humanityIt is worse than the current war in Russia because there is no news here unlike what is happening in Ukraine. no one talks about usThere is no press, there is no media and so no one knows or can imagine the violence that the Sudanese people are facing,” he says.

like aleph, 8 million Sudanese managed to escape the bulletsSome towards the north, some towards the south. And others were able to reach the border into South Sudan after passing through 17 checkpoints and violent interrogations.

Unlike other conflicts where displaced people end up in countries with great infrastructure, in Africa the cure may be worse than the disease. Entering Chad, South Sudan and Egypt the nightmare does not end: many Sudanese join in Refugee camps with conditions as bad as those in Sudan,

Young Eliaf pauses to continue her story. Although his English is almost perfect, he can’t find the words to describe it The atrocities he witnessed during these 18 months of war And especially about how women are suffering.

“Rape, trauma, I can’t even tell you what I saw in the hospital and the level of violence women are facing there. They are the target of this warI don’t know why, but they are raped and forced to give up their lives,” she says.

From Uganda, a country that had welcomed him since his displacement, he learned the story of another brave young Sudanese like himself.

The time came on June 20, three months after Eliaf’s visit. Mohammad ZakariaThe 29-year-old young photojournalist was covering the war for Britain’s state media channel BBC.

As passionate as any fan about his work, Mohammed vowed not to flee until the conflict was over. but one day, After seeing the bloody massacre on your doorstepDecided to run away. He handed over his photographic equipment to his best friend without knowing whether their paths would cross again.

His body is no longer the same as before. At least not since the day the FAR fired rifles at his house. The photographer has machine gun wounds on his body that still hurt. For example, his brother lost an eyeThat day – which he still remembers clearly – he was on his way to the hospital when there was a new attack in which 5 people lost their lives. Despite his serious condition, he could clearly see how he died. Another 19 were injured.

“I could neither walk nor work. I am not the same as before. It was difficult for me to decide to run away, but when I saw that my family had already come to Chad I decided that I too had to take the risk. Living in El Fasher was like sitting waiting for death. Those who could not or did not want to leave built trenches in their homes,” Zakaria confesses.

The photojournalist believed that traveling to Chad was riskier than heading to the border with South Sudan. His odyssey also includes Violent interrogation by Sudanese army Which he was able to justify with his great love: photography. In each of them he excused himself by saying that he was working and depicting war.

There aren’t many photographers covering the Sudan genocide. The press is unable to enter the country, as well as humanitarian aid.The most they can try is to reach the respective borders, a point where the humanitarian mission of Enrique Piñero’s NGO Solidaire plans to reach with lots of donations for the Sudanese people.

After traveling by car for several days with his cousin Muzamil, Mohammed was forced to leave his camera and all the equipment in one of the refugee camps. He picked up the memories and his cell phone, hid them in a piece of paper and continued his journey. Their basic operational equipment was considered a threat by other fighting forces, the FAR.

,I was forced to delete almost everything from my cell phone.“From messages to apps, if they checked me,” he explains. bugle The young man who experienced moments of maximum stress in one of the many interrogations when they found his Facebook page with messages against the war. Accused of being a spy, Mohammad He had to pay a huge amount to be released.,

Mohammed’s journey lasted twenty-three days until he and his cousin reached his uncle’s house in Uganda. There he started a new life away from shootings, massacres, interrogations and rapes. He now lives in a hostel in Kampala, the capital of Uganda.

Neither he nor Elif will give up. Both are managing a social media account (@voicesofdarfur) through which they are searching for Make war crimes in Sudan visibleThe land of their love where they hope to return soon.

special envoy to sudan