By Dayo Yusuf
December in Sudan usually marks the beginning of a short-lived respite from the blazing sun that bears down on the undulating, arid landscape for almost the entire year.
But Najwa, a 30-year-old Sudanese mother of three, recounts one such late year-end afternoon in 2023 with a sense of dread reserved for life's most horrific moments.
"It happened around 4 in the afternoon. Armed men appeared out of nowhere and attacked us. Some were killed, but my children and I somehow survived," she tells TRT Afrika.
It's a grim memory etched in Najwa's mind as she and her family move from place to place, enduring the rigours of life as refugees with hardly a sliver of hope to cling to.
She, her children and hundreds of others were forced to flee Zalingei in Central Darfur as fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) intensified near the Al-Hasahisa camp.
Najwa and her children are now housed in an abandoned and looted bank in the city with thirty other displaced civilians.
"You can hardly call this a roof over our heads. Also, we have no food," she tells TRT Afrika. "We have never received any assistance, not even a soap bar. When the rains come, we don't know where to go."
Nowhere people
Since fighting erupted on April 15, 2023, Sudan has witnessed one of the worst humanitarian crises involving the displacement of more than 8.6 million people, including asylum seekers and refugees.
Persistent tribal conflicts and drought, which triggered an exodus earlier, have worsened the situation.
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), also known as Doctors Without Borders, reports that nearly 6.5 million people have been displaced within the country. The figures are daunting but constitute just a fraction of the global picture.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that over 117 million people have been forcibly displaced worldwide by a combination of war, internal conflict, climate change and other factors.
Among them are nearly 43.4 million refugees, 40% under 18.
Despite Sudan being one of the world's largest displacement zones, organisations have not returned to the country since evacuating at the onset of the conflict between the Sudan Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
Most internally displaced people were forced to leave due to targeted attacks and looting by warring factions, which in some cases culminated in humanitarian aid workers getting killed.
Fault lines widen
"One of the big challenges is the status quo in the security situation," Igor Garcia, MSF's communications advisor, tells TRT Afrika.
"Airstrikes, shelling and exchange of gunfire are happening every day in different areas affected by the conflict. People are being forced to flee, often multiple times. And once they arrive at a safer destination, very little humanitarian assistance is available."
For over six months, Aissa and her family, who are also refugees at the Al-Hasahisa camp in Zalingei, have lived in a single container at the ravaged Zalingei fire station.
Their homes had previously been attacked by warring tribal groups in 2003.
"We were chased out," Aissa, 50, recounts to TRT Afrika. "Some of our men were killed; others were detained. Our things were taken or stolen. As we were leaving, we were stopped by armed men who tied up some of us and assaulted the young boys."
As the frequency, duration and intensity of conflicts increase, so does the number of people forced to flee each year.
UNHCR says that apart from Sudan, the past two years saw one of the worst refugee crises develop as fighting escalated in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Myanmar, Ukraine and Palestine.
Worse, global trends have shown there is growing spite against refugees in the host countries.
Refugee discrimination
Hundreds of cases, if not more, are reported daily of attacks on refugees and general discontent among host nations. In some cases, these have led to disruptions in funding for refugee welfare programmes.
Providing much-needed assistance is ‘’extremely difficult’’, says MSF’s Garcia.
‘’In some areas controlled by the RSF, there is a climate of insecurity, and health workers bear the brunt," Garcia adds.
Aissa and millions like her struggle to earn enough to buy one meal daily. Surviving by doing odd jobs here and there, they need access to water, food and healthcare.
"We just roam around the city. If we find someone who wants the laundry done, we do that and get some money," says Aissa.
Garcia says Sudan not being spoken about enough is the worst thing to have happened to the country after the fighting and the resultant humanitarian crisis.
"Sudan and its people deserve a lot more attention, and it's our obligation to talk about what's happening there and to act."
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