Testimonials: Sudanese flee El Gezira fearing murder and rape

Families fleeing eastern El Gezira due to Rapid Support Forces (RSF) attacks spoke to Radio Dabanga yesterday, after the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Displacement Tracking Matrix reported that over 9,000 people were displaced to Eastern Sudan last week, while local authorities estimate the number to be over 30,000.

According to IOM, 9,332 families were displaced from Tamboul locality and surrounding villages in eastern El Gezira, located about 130 kilometres South-East of Khartoum, between October 20 and 27. Many fled to El Gedaref state, including the capital city, El Gedaref, El Faw, and El Butana. Others fled to Atbara in River Nile state, and New Halfa and Khashm El Girba localities in Kassala.

Volunteers in the New Halfa Emergency Room reported the arrival of 30,000 displaced persons from eastern El Gezira to New Halfa and Atbara yesterday. They described the living conditions of the displaced as “catastrophic.”

The RSF launched a large-scale attack on villages in eastern, northern, and western El Gezira after the commander of the 1st Infantry Division in Wad Madani, Abu Agla Keikel*, defected and joined the army last week.

According to the Civilian Resistance Committees who spoke to Radio Dabanga, the RSF launched its attack on six cities and 51 villages in eastern El Gezira, and six villages in western El Gezira. On Saturday, Clementine Nkweta-Salami, the United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan, expressed deep concern over escalating armed violence perpetrated by the RSF in El Gezira, which has killed at least 120 people.

The RSF made a statement yesterday, accusing the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Islamic Movement of causing civil war with the help of Keikil. An official spokesman for the RSF explained that they are facing heavily armed forces in the villages of El Gezira.

As the war continues, the chapters of suffering and displacement of Sudanese people continue to develop. The number of displaced persons exceeded the ten million barrier in June, while the number of Sudanese refugees who fled Sudan exceeded three million. In total, nearly 30 per cent of Sudan’s population has been displaced, according to the IOM. Each person carries a story and a narrative that will not end until the war stops and peace comes, of which Radio Dabanga has collected testimonials to make up a clearer picture of the current displacement route from El Gezira to El Gedaref.

Fleeing on foot

Mustafa Mohamed was forced to flee his village the rural Tamboul locality, accompanied by two girls and a young woman, towards El Gedaref. “Despite the outbreak of war in Sudan a year and a half ago, and the RSF’s control of El Gezira for the past 10 months, we have been living in relative safety in our peaceful village. Until now, we only saw displacement and its hardships on our television screens. We did not expect to be amongst its victims.”

“My family and I had to flee on a tractor with elderly people and newborn babies. We travelled over 200 kilometres,” he added. According to Mohamed, “There have been no vehicles in our area since the RSF took control of the state and began looting our villages, so we resorted to travelling by tractor-trailer. I was separated from my family and young children for a day. Tears streamed down my face when I found my children.”

A displaced woman who fled from Tamboul told Radio Dabanga: “We were forced to leave our village on foot while the elderly, disabled, and children took donkeys and tractors. Our journey on foot took 10 hours and we were forced to drink stagnant rainwater.” They reached El Gedaref three days after catching a lift on a truck. Some people were reportedly travelling for over six days. Some people have not been seen by their family members for over a week.

“What happened in East Al-Jazeera was a surprise to us,” said one of the displaced people from eastern El Gezira. “The interruption of the communications network meant that people had to flee from house to house to coordinate with each other. We left at midnight and travelled on foot to a neighbouring village for ten hours before boarding trucks on their way to El Gedaref.”

Fear of sexual abuse

According to the testimonies of a number of those fleeing the RSF attack, the fear of rape of women and killing of men is the main reason for displacement. Salimi Ishag, Director of the Anti-Violence Against Women Committee told Radio Dabanga that they had monitored 21 cases of sexual violence linked to the attacks, including 17 cases in one village. Three health workers were reportedly targeted inside a medical centre.

“We did not resist the RSF despite them storming our homes and looting our property,” said one displaced person. “Three residents of our village were killed while defending their relatives from attempted rape.”

A displaced woman told Radio Dabanga: “We heard people crying and screaming. We later learned that they were crying because a man was killed after he resisted the rape of one of his daughters.”

The Civilian Resistance Committees accused the RSF of killing and severely beating men, women, children, the elderly, and people with special needs in El Gezira. They also condemned the RSF for allegedly committing crimes of rape, theft, armed robbery, kidnapping for ransom, attacking health facilities and markets, forced detention and arbitrary arrest, discrimination on racial and ethnic grounds, and mutilation of corpses.

Community efforts

Volunteer Mohamed Bari from a youth initiative in El Gedaref told Radio Dabanga that the displaced were housed in Dar El Nim, El Jumhuriya, and El Akab neighbourhoods, while others were directed towards El Bara Hall and El Gedaref market.

Bari explained that a number of the displaced are still stuck in the villages on the way to El Gedaref due to the lack of transportation.

Bari said that it was difficult to accurately count the number of displaced who arrived in the city since the RSF attacks began in El Gezira because most of them are hosted by their relatives or neighbouring villages.

Volunteer Mohamed Mahmoud told Radio Dabanga that the number of displaced people arriving at New Halfa Emergency Room is increasing. The displaced who arrived at New Halfa Emergency Room were housed in nine shelters in New Halfa and makeshift tents in 11 surrounding villages.

He praised the community movement in New Halfa to receive the displaced people and noted the urgent need for tents, shelter materials, and temporary bathrooms. Residents are attempting to provide food, and the New Halfa Medical Association has opened field clinics. There is a shortage of medicine.

Medical sources reported two confirmed cases of cholera had been recorded and that the cases had been transferred to the isolation centre at New Halfa Hospital, although it was not verified by other sources.

Executive Director of the Rural Khashm El Girba Locality in Kassala, Mohamed Tahir Sheiba, confirmed that the locality had formed several specialised committees, including security and health committees and others for shelter. He said that sheltering the arrivals at the Egyptian School Shelter Centre would not affect pupils’ education.

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*Keikel, a former army officer from El Gezira, set up the Sudan Shield Forces (SSF) in El Butana in El Gedaref at the end of 2022. A military expert accused supporters of the defunct Al Bashir regime responsible for the formation of the SSF and other new militias supporting the army. The SSF was allowed by the authorities to hold rallies in eastern and central Sudan, including Khartoum. In August 2023, however, Keikel changed sides and joined the better-paying RSF. RSF Commander-in-Chief Mohamed ‘Hemedti’ Dagalo assigned former army officer Abu Agla Keikel as commander of the 1st Infantry Division in Wad Madani, which de facto means the rulership of El Gezira, on December 19.