Sudanese from Darfur face difficult challenges during their escape
As fighting between the Sudanese army and the RSF enters its third month, the tragedy continues for thousands of displaced people, both Sudanese and non-Sudanese, who have fled the fighting, whether towards Sudanese states other than Khartoum, Omdurman and Darfur, or towards neighboring countries, Egypt, South Sudan and Chad.
Successive events in Sudan have inflamed the situation in Darfur, which is already suffering from old tribal wars, rekindled with conflict, and the city of El Geneina in West Darfur has become a ghost town as a result of heavy fighting.
Sudanese fleeing the Darfur town of El Geneina have been killed or injured by militia gunfire during attempts to flee on foot to Chad since mid last week.
The Road of Death
The road has been described as a road of death, with activists saying militias from Arab Bedouin tribes have been behind the violence in El Geneina over the past months.
“The death route to Chad is marked by militias that ramp up passers-by, shooting at them, and people who have been trampled to death in attempts to escape.”
“Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said that some 15,000 people had fled West Darfur over the previous four days, citing many migrants who said they had seen people shot and killed while trying to flee El Geneina.”
The residents of El Geneina made a decision to leave
“The people of El Geneina made a collective decision to leave,” one resident told MSF from Chad. Most fled on foot to the northeast of El Geneina, but many were killed on the road.
“The decision to flee came after the killing of the West Darfur governor on 14 June, and the unrest in Darfur has escalated, with the war raging in the capital, and taken on a more pronounced ethnic character as attackers target the non-Arab population with their skin color on them.”
Sultan Saad Baharuddin, leader of the Masalit tribe, which makes up the largest population of El Geneina, said “systematic” killings had taken place in recent days.
“He said the bodies lay on the road between El Geneina and the Chadian city of Adré in large numbers, which no one can count, adding that the flight to Chad is extremely difficult.”
Competition for land has long been a driver of conflict in Darfur. “The villages on the road from El Geneina to Adri were for Masalit, but Arab tribes have settled there since 2003,” Ibrahim said.
“Thousands of Sudanese in Chad are facing other difficulties, due to the lack of relief items and camps, with thousands forced to set up camps or lay waste to themselves without the sun’s heat.”
“According to figures from several government agencies, the number of Sudanese fleeing to Chad is close to 100,000, mostly women and children, who have been separated from their families and are suffering from a major crisis of lack of food and housing and the threat of disease among them.”
“According to the Sudan Medical Association’s Preparatory Committee, the number of civilian deaths since the start of the clashes has risen to 958, with 4,746 injuries, far from war confirmed.”
The situation is more difficult
Those who do not die from the war have died from looting or theft or even from the racism of color, although everyone is from Sudan and there is no difference between them, yet they are discriminated against before me, said political analyst Mohamed Elias.
“There are other routes of death, for example, to Egypt, South Sudan, as well as Ethiopia, and the road of death to Chad saw people fleeing Sudan by walking long distances for fear of being killed in the war between the two sides of the conflict”, Elias said.
