Fighting in Sudan's El Gezira state threatens aid, displaces thousands

Violence in Sudan has spread to El Gezira state, southeast of the capital Khartoum, forcing more displacement and suffering as the civil war enters its ninth month. 

People displaced by the conflict in Sudan gather in the city of Gedaref as they attempt to get passports and exit visas after fleeing Wad Madani, the capital of El Gezira state, on 20 December 2023. © AFP

Since the start of the war El Gezira has become a crucial hub for aid operations and a refuge for internally displaced people, with hundreds of thousands of families moving to Wad Madani, Sudan's second city.

But now that city is under attack, with as many as 300,000 people reportedly fleeing El Gezira since mid December as a result of clashes between the Rapid Support Forces and Sudan's army.

Displaced people fleeing Wad Madani, the capital of Gezira state towards Gedaref on 20 December 2023. AFP - -

"The Rapid Support Forces are spread out in the streets of Wad Madani, on trucks and motorbikes, firing in celebration, and army aircraft are striking some districts," resident Ahmed Adel told Reuters by phone.

Meanwhile 65-year old Omar Hussein took to Wad Madani's streets with his family and what little they could carry, walking 10 kilometres on foot until they found a driver willing to take them.

"We're just trying to get to Gedaref," 240 kilometres east, Hussein told AFP. "We have family there we can stay with."

Wad Madani is also an important farming region in a country facing worsening hunger.

More fighting, more displacement

More than half a million people had sought shelter in El Gezira state before the RSF began advancing on the villages lining the highway between Khartoum and Wad Madani.

By Tuesday, the fourth day of fierce battles in the state capital, at least 250,000 people had fled El Gezira, "many in panic and with no other option than fleeing on foot", according to the United Nations.

But with the country's already fragile infrastructure destroyed by nine months of war between Sudan's army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy, RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, many are running with nowhere left to go.

On Wednesday, the UN's World Food Programme said the spread of fighting southwards had forced it to suspend food assistance in parts of El Gezira, calling it a "major setback".

#SUDAN: WFP has been forced to temporarily suspend food assistance in some parts of Gezira State, as fighting spreads.

This is a major setback to humanitarian efforts in the country’s breadbasket, where WFP had been assisting over 800,000 people.

— World Food Programme (@WFP) December 20, 2023

In a bitter reminder of the first days of war in Khartoum, those who had tried to make a home in Wad Madani watched the city devolve over the week into the same violence they hoped they had left behind.

As both forces battled, fighter jets flew overhead, shops were boarded shut for fear of looting and families grew desperate to protect women and girls from sexual violence.

Impossible peace

By early December, the war between the army and the RSF had killed 12,190 people in Sudan, according to a conservative estimate by the Armed Conflict Locations and Event Data project.

It has also displaced 5.4 million people inside the country, according to the UN, and sent over 1.4 million fleeing abroad.

But in both Gedaref and Sennar, "the humanitarian situation is dire," the UN refugee agency's spokesman William Spindler said Tuesday, warning of a "deepening forced displacement crisis".

Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced by the latest fighting in Sudan, increasing the scale of the crisis and its potential to destabilize the whole region. https://t.co/VgIISrYzZm

— William Spindler (@SpindlerWilliam) December 19, 2023

With over 70 percent of hospitals in conflict-affected areas out of service and "facilities in non-conflict-affected states overwhelmed by the influx of displaced people," the UN has said the country's health care is already stretched to the limit.

Gedaref is already facing multiple disease outbreaks, including cholera and dengue fever.

Amid mounting accusations of violations against civilians by both the army and the paramilitaries, the RSF promised support and protection – both largely non-existent for the past eight months.

(with newswires)