Thousands are forced to flee their homes in Wad Madani, Sudan’s second city, where the majority of the capital city Khartoum’s displaced people took refuge at the beginning of the conflict between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in April this year.
As violence between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the RSF heightens in Wad Madani the region of Aj Jazirah is on the verge of a humanitarian crisis, with thousands forced to flee their homes, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned on December 15.
OCHA reports ongoing clashes between SAF and RSF, resulting in the displacement of approximately 14,000-15,000 people. A state of emergency has been declared, and a curfew has been in effect in the region since December 15.
“The continued clashes could have a catastrophic humanitarian impact on the population, as 5.9M people live in Aj Jazirah state, and nearly 500K people have fled to the state since fighting erupted mid-April,” OCHA Sudan said on X.
Sofie Karlsson, a spokesperson for OCHA, also warned of the far-reaching ramifications of the latest breakout of clashes between the Sudanese army and the RSF. “The fallout of clashes in Wad Madani is a nightmare,” she wrote on X.
Humanitarian organizations that had previously established Wad Madani as a safe location to operate are now navigating a rapidly deteriorating security situation.
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“We have paused our work in Wad Madani while conflict has erupted there, we will resume as soon as possible,” said William Carter, the country director of the Norwegian Refugee Council.
“The numbers of people displaced are already in their thousands, and likely to grow as the fighting continues. We’ve dispatched emergency response teams to areas that people are fleeing to, such as Sennar and Gedaref states.”
Like Karlsson, the OCHA spokesperson, Carter also drew attention to the nightmarish scenario unfolding in Sudan’s second city as those displaced by the bloody SAF-RSF clashes continue to run out of hiding places.
“This is a terrible turn of events. Hundreds of thousands of people who fled from urban warfare and airstrikes in Khartoum are now facing this all again in a place they thought was safe,” Carter stressed.
The increasing aggression of RSF, whose combatents are widely reported to be on the verge of capturing Wad Madani, raises fears of potential abuses, including looting, killings, and sexual violence.
Omonia Kheir, a Wad Madani resident whose real named has ben changed in media reports for security reasons, explained the profound fear, saying, “They rape [women] to break the spirits of men.”
As the RSF enters Wad Madani, residents are losing faith in the army’s ability to protect the city. While the army has been responding to the RSF’s attacks with air strikes, Kheir noted that “people are now losing faith and hope. Everyone is just hysterical.”
In the midst of the chaos, Sudanese volunteers from resistance committees are taking action. These committees are purchasing black-market fuel to aid evacuations. Their focus is on transferring people to nearby towns, with Sinnar city being a primary destination.
Despite local relief efforts, the situation on the ground remains volatile. The increasingly imminent capture of Wad Madani by the RSF raises logistical concerns for aid agencies, and the potential for further violence poses a significant threat to the population.
