Sudan: Civilians trek through mountains to escape Kordofan fighting

For eight days, Sudanese farmer Ibrahim Hussein led his family through treacherous terrain to flee the fighting in southern Kordofan – the latest and most volatile front in the country’s 31-month-old conflict.   “We left everything behind,” said the 47-year-old, who escaped with his family of seven from Keiklek, near the South Sudanese border. “Our […]

For eight days, Sudanese farmer Ibrahim Hussein led his family through treacherous terrain to flee the fighting in southern Kordofan – the latest and most volatile front in the country’s 31-month-old conflict.

 

“We left everything behind,” said the 47-year-old, who escaped with his family of seven from Keiklek, near the South Sudanese border.

“Our animals and our unharvested crops – all of it.”

Hussein spoke to AFP from Kosti, an army-controlled city in White Nile state, around 300 kilometres (186 miles) south of Khartoum.

The city has become a refuge for hundreds of families fleeing violence in oil-rich Kordofan, where the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) – locked in a brutal war since April 2023 – are vying for control.

Emboldened by their October capture of the army’s last stronghold in Darfur, the RSF and their allies have in recent weeks descended in full force on Kordofan, forcing nearly 53,000 people to flee, according to the United Nations.

He took his family through the rocky spine of the Nuba Mountains and the surrounding valley, passing through both paramilitary and army checkpoints.

In December, the RSF consolidated its grip on West Kordofan, one of three regional states, and seized Heglig, which lies on Sudan’s largest oil field.

With their local allies, they have also tightened their siege on the army-held cities of Kadugli and Dilling, where hundreds of thousands face mass starvation.

 

‘63 children killed’

In just two days this week, nearly 4,000 people arrived in Kosti, hungry and terrified, said Mohamed Refaat, Sudan chief of mission for the UN’s International Organisation for Migration.

“Most of those arriving are women and children. Very few adult men are with them,” he told AFP, adding that many men stay behind “out of fear of being killed or abducted.”

The main roads are unsafe, so families are taking “long and uncertain journeys and sleeping wherever they can,” according to Mercy Corps, one of the few aid agencies operating in Kordofan.

“Journeys that once took four hours now force people to walk for 15 to 30 days through isolated areas and mine-littered terrain,” said Miji Park, interim country director for Sudan.

In December, drones hit a kindergarten and a hospital in Kalogi in South Kordofan, killing 114 people, including 63 children, according to the World Health Organisation.

According to the IOM’s Refaat, Kosti – a relatively small city – is already under strain. It hosts thousands of South Sudanese refugees, themselves fleeing violence across the border.

According to Refaat, transport prices from El-Obeid in North Kordofan have increased more than tenfold in two months, severely “limiting who can flee”.

“If a ceasefire is not reached around Kadugli,” Refaat said, “the scale of violence we saw in El-Fasher could be repeated.”

Meanwhile, the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, has welcomed the peace initiative presented by the Transitional Government of Sudan to the United Nations Security Council.

The AUC Chairperson described the initiative as a comprehensive and forward-looking framework that demonstrates a profound understanding of the severe crisis confronting Sudan and its people, as well as a sincere commitment to ending hostilities, halting violence, alleviating humanitarian suffering, and upholding Sudan’s unity, sovereignty, and territorial integrity.

The AUC Chairperson noted that the African Union attaches great importance to the political, humanitarian, and security elements outlined in the proposal, viewing them as a credible foundation for sustainable peace.

He underscored that constructive engagement with the initiative is indispensable to any comprehensive solution and to efforts aimed at ending armed conflict, restoring security and stability, and safeguarding Sudan’s social cohesion and national unity.

The AUC Chairperson expressed strong support for the initiative’s emphasis on an immediate and comprehensive ceasefire, the protection of civilians, unhindered humanitarian access, support for refugees and internally displaced persons, disarmament, security sector reform, national reconciliation, and reconstruction.