Geneina residents are struggling to survive the latest cycle of violence in West Darfur. Photo: Ayin Network/Twitter
The conflict in Sudan broke out on 15 April. So far, it has killed at least 528 people and dispelled the hopes of many Sudanese to obtain democratic, civilian rule.
Rival security forces – the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a powerful paramilitary group – are fighting to seize control of the country, with civilians caught in the crossfire.
While most news reports have focused on the fighting in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, at least 10 other towns have experienced intense violence. One of those is Geneina, the capital of West Darfur state, 1 500km from Khartoum.
Residents say they are living in a shell of a town, with looted shops, empty government buildings and the absence of any security forces to protect them.
The conflict began on the morning of 24 April. Geneina’s residents woke to gunfire and a huge plume of smoke over the El Jamarik neighbourhood that quickly spread to the city’s main police station.
The next day, residents said that Arabic groups aligned with the RSF attacked camps for internally displaced people, burning the shelters to the ground, and then targeted other areas.
Musa Haroun, a leader at the Aba Dhar camp for internally displaced people, confirmed that the gunmen attacked gatherings of the displaced in the city centre, forcing thousands of civilians to flee across the nearby border to Chad.
Without any police or other security forces in the capital city, the armed militias were emboldened to invade the city market and government institutions in an unprecedented manner, Haroun added.
Outmanned and ill-equipped, local police officers called on civilians, particularly the Masalit ethnic group from displaced camps, to arm and defend themselves against the RSF-aligned militias.
This is an echo of an ugly history. In the late 1990s, security forces created civilian militias in Darfur — the Janjaweed — to counter rebel groups, which later morphed into the RSF.
“Children are carrying arms,” says Inaam El Nour, a Geneina resident and director of the Women for Change organisation. El-Nour says she understands why the police armed civilians but also fears the long-term consequences.
A local doctor’s union estimated 191 people died in Geneina in the fighting last week, but residents say the number continues to grow as injured civilians succumb to untreated injuries.
“The health situation is catastrophic,” says Dr Tahani al-Habeeb. “There are no health services.”
The city’s main hospital, Geneina Teaching Hospital, has been shut for 10 days after mass looting. Medical charity Doctors Without Borders has had to stop all activities in the state except for in Kereinek Hospital.
“They robbed [Geneina Teaching] hospital, including the blood banks and X-ray laboratory. The ministry of health was burnt down, cars stolen. Even the doctors’ living quarters and cars were not spared,” Tahani adds. “They have destroyed the entire health sector.”
Living in the aftermath
The sound of gunfire has diminished in Geneina, but few residents venture into the streets, despite the pressing need for food and water. Water relies on electrical supply in Geneina, residents say, and both remain suspended since the conflict started.
Most markets were ransacked and abandoned, but some smaller markets in the outer northern areas of Geneina are open. Reaching these basic markets is a risk. Even worse, few Geneina citizens can afford even basic necessities amid skyrocketing inflation.
Prices of bread, for instance, have doubled, while purchasing a kilogramme of meat is quadruple the price, says a resident, Shifa Adam.
“Going to the market to purchase even the most basic items is now a problem,” says another resident, Hassan Ali (his name has been changed on request). “Everyone treats you with suspicion … they associate you with the armed groups even if you are just looking for bread.”
Ali, an engineer with no affiliation to the warring parties, says other residents automatically link him to the RSF-aligned militias simply because he is of Arabian ethnicity.
The opposite is also true, El-Nour says. RSF-aligned militias have targeted black civilians with no connection to the conflict. “Currently, anyone with a dark skin tone feels animosity towards lighter tones and vice-versa.” El-Nour adds.
Uncertain futures
But many residents also believe the conflict is being fuelled by outside political forces and recall a more harmonious past between Geneina’s diverse communities.
Haroun Muhammed, a resident of Al-Salam neighbourhood in Geneina, a place where the conflict displaced have sought shelter, is convinced state actors fuel the conflict to achieve temporary, personal gains at the detriment of the citizenry.
“Since the beginning of the conflict, all security services disappeared — it’s as if they wanted conflict to burn all the neighbourhoods of the city.”
Acknowledging that outside actors are behind the conflict may be the first step in quelling tensions, analysts say. Darfur’s other major cities, El-Fasher, Nyala and al-Daem, are relatively calm.
“In El-Fasher and Nyala local leaders with leverage were able to enact these ceasefires and, most importantly, make them hold,” says Kholood Khair, a managing partner of a Sudan-based policy think tank.
“We are not seeing this in Geneina because the successive rounds of recent fighting have upset the social balance there so much that I am not sure any side can feasibly negotiate a ceasefire.”
This report was written for The Continent by Ayin Network, an independent Sudanese media house that focuses on under-reported and marginalised communities within the country. This article first appeared in The Continent, the pan-African weekly newspaper produced in partnership with the Mail & Guardian. It’s designed to be read and shared on WhatsApp. Download your free copy here.