Amena Mohamed can’t stop smiling as she prepares to board a bus home to Wad Madani, in Sudan’s central Al-Jazira state, more than a year after she fled brutal fighting there.”I can’t describe the feeling, we’re so happy,” she told AFP in the southeastern state of Gedaref, where over a million people sought shelter from the battles between the regular Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), at war since April 2023.Wrapped in a vibrant orange headscarf, she said she did not care that “there’s still problems with the water and electricity”, as long as she could return to her sons.In December 2023, they stayed behind with their ailing father, sending the family’s women off to escape as the RSF descended on Wad Madani.In the months that followed, over a million people fled brutal paramilitary violence documented by local monitors, including summary executions, systematic sexual violence and sieges laid to entire villages.When in January the military recaptured Wad Madani, celebratory chants of “we’re going back” erupted in displacement centres across the country, including the de facto capital on the Red Sea, Port Sudan.On Monday, an AFP correspondent in Port Sudan reported around 70 buses, carrying an estimated 3,500 displaced people, leaving for Wad Madani.By Tuesday, state governor Al-Taher Ibrahim had “received hundreds of returnees” to the city from western Al-Jazira alone, the official state news agency reported.Thousands more departed from the southeastern cities of Gedaref and Kassala, local officials told AFP.- ‘God protect us’ -Ruqayya Ibrahim, also preparing for the 250-kilometre (155 mile) trip from Gedaref, told AFP she had “grown so tired of displacement”.Asked whether she knew what state her home in Wad Madani was in, she said “it’s been looted”, but that hadn’t dulled her desire to return.In addition to killing tens of thousands of people and causing mass atrocities against civilians, the war in Sudan has created the world’s largest internal displacement crisis — with 11.5 million people currently having fled their homes.Even in relatively safe areas controlled by the army — namely the country’s east and north — infrastructure collapse and insufficient services have caused a rapidly worsening humanitarian crisis.In Gedaref alone, far from any fighting, nearly a million people are facing crisis levels of hunger, according to the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification.Mary Lupul, humanitarian director at aid group Save the Children, told AFP she had seen “some of the skinniest children” she has ever encountered in Gedaref.”Parents are making heart-wrenching decisions, deciding which of their children to feed,” she said.Cradling her baby — born in displacement — in a star-speckled blanket, Tamador al-Sayed told AFP she had fled to safety by foot, tuktuk and truck nearly all the way to the border with South Sudan, before making it to Gedaref.Now, her family could finally “relax”, she said.”We’re happy for our homes and our families and our loved ones and our neighbours,” she told AFP.But despite the long-awaited homecoming, all is not yet well in Al-Jazira.Communication services have not been fully restored, and most of the state has been without electricity for over a year.In the wake of Wad Madani’s recapture, local monitors and the UN reported minority communities were being targeted and civilians accused of collaborating with the RSF, by militias allied with the army.Still, many are anxious to return.”God protect us,” Sayed said, praying the same joy of return would soon be felt by all Sudanese.
Amena Mohamed can’t stop smiling as she prepares to board a bus home to Wad Madani, in Sudan’s central Al-Jazira state, more than a year after she fled brutal fighting there.”I can’t describe the feeling, we’re so happy,” she told AFP in the southeastern state of Gedaref, where over a million people sought shelter from the battles between the regular Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), at war since April 2023.Wrapped in a vibrant orange headscarf, she said she did not care that “there’s still problems with the water and electricity”, as long as she could return to her sons.In December 2023, they stayed behind with their ailing father, sending the family’s women off to escape as the RSF descended on Wad Madani.In the months that followed, over a million people fled brutal paramilitary violence documented by local monitors, including summary executions, systematic sexual violence and sieges laid to entire villages.When in January the military recaptured Wad Madani, celebratory chants of “we’re going back” erupted in displacement centres across the country, including the de facto capital on the Red Sea, Port Sudan.On Monday, an AFP correspondent in Port Sudan reported around 70 buses, carrying an estimated 3,500 displaced people, leaving for Wad Madani.By Tuesday, state governor Al-Taher Ibrahim had “received hundreds of returnees” to the city from western Al-Jazira alone, the official state news agency reported.Thousands more departed from the southeastern cities of Gedaref and Kassala, local officials told AFP.- ‘God protect us’ -Ruqayya Ibrahim, also preparing for the 250-kilometre (155 mile) trip from Gedaref, told AFP she had “grown so tired of displacement”.Asked whether she knew what state her home in Wad Madani was in, she said “it’s been looted”, but that hadn’t dulled her desire to return.In addition to killing tens of thousands of people and causing mass atrocities against civilians, the war in Sudan has created the world’s largest internal displacement crisis — with 11.5 million people currently having fled their homes.Even in relatively safe areas controlled by the army — namely the country’s east and north — infrastructure collapse and insufficient services have caused a rapidly worsening humanitarian crisis.In Gedaref alone, far from any fighting, nearly a million people are facing crisis levels of hunger, according to the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification.Mary Lupul, humanitarian director at aid group Save the Children, told AFP she had seen “some of the skinniest children” she has ever encountered in Gedaref.”Parents are making heart-wrenching decisions, deciding which of their children to feed,” she said.Cradling her baby — born in displacement — in a star-speckled blanket, Tamador al-Sayed told AFP she had fled to safety by foot, tuktuk and truck nearly all the way to the border with South Sudan, before making it to Gedaref.Now, her family could finally “relax”, she said.”We’re happy for our homes and our families and our loved ones and our neighbours,” she told AFP.But despite the long-awaited homecoming, all is not yet well in Al-Jazira.Communication services have not been fully restored, and most of the state has been without electricity for over a year.In the wake of Wad Madani’s recapture, local monitors and the UN reported minority communities were being targeted and civilians accused of collaborating with the RSF, by militias allied with the army.Still, many are anxious to return.”God protect us,” Sayed said, praying the same joy of return would soon be felt by all Sudanese.
