Darfur's survivors of a war #3YearsTooLong
By an OCHA team based on testimonies collected by Giles Clarke
Shadia. Hamza. Elhadi. Zakia. Maha. Five people whose lives have been upended by the war in Sudan. Here is what they shared about surviving the war with photographer Giles Clarke in February 2026.
Since the eruption of the conflict in April 2023, people across the country have endured three years of violence, hunger and displacement. Many have suffered grave abuses, some of which may amount to war crimes.
#Shadia*, escaping El Fasher siege
For many people, siege is an ancient word – something from history books. But for Shadia, it is painfully real. She lived through the 500-day siege of El Fasher, trapped with thousands of others in a city cut off by war, with dwindling food and medicines, with troops surrounding them. The farms around the city were emptied through fear and violence. Those who tried to leave in search of food or to bring supplies back risked being killed, detained, or raped.
Shadia remained in El Fasher as the city starved and collapsed around her, until one desperate attempt to find vegetables outside the city ended in rape.
After her assault, she escaped to Tawila by foot, more than 50km away. Her husband did not escape. When El Fasher fell in October 2025, she was finally reunited with her children. Today, she lives with them in a small, crowded tent in a displacement camp.
Across Sudan, over 12 million people, mostly women and girls, are at risk of gender-based violence – an 80 per cent increase since 2024. In Tawila, Shadia and other survivors can access emergency clinical treatment, receive treatment for their injuries, and support from trained counsellors and other women who have endured similar violence.
#Hamza*, a life shattered by conflict
Hamza is just 14. In October 2025, he lost his leg after being badly injured by mortar fire in El Fasher. He reached Tawila on a donkey cart, where he was finally able to receive medical treatment.
Hamza is one of thousands of civilians wounded during months of fighting in El Fasher and surrounding areas. Many young men and boys were killed or injured as they attempted to escape the besieged city.
With much of Darfur’s health infrastructure damaged or shut down during the conflict, many of the wounded have to seek care in makeshift clinics and humanitarian-run facilities in places such as Tawila. There, doctors and nurses continue to treat the injured even as many of them are displaced by the same war.
#Maha*, the determined nurse
Maha has already fled twice: first from her home in 2023, at the start of the conflict in Sudan, and then again in 2025 from Zamzam camp, where she had sought refuge.
Maha is a nurse, but being a healthcare professional in Sudan is neither safe nor easy. Clinics, hospitals and health workers are often targeted. Last year, more than 460 patients and companions were reportedly killed at the Saudi Hospital in El Fasher.
In April 2025, Zamzam camp was brutally overrun by Sudan's Rapid Support Forces (RSF), forcing its 400,000 residents to flee once again. A UN Report documented widespread killings, rape, sexual violence and torture, describing "a consistent pattern of serious violations of international humanitarian law."
Despite the danger and the weight of her own ordeal, Maha now works in the maternity ward of Paris Hospital run by the medical non-governmental organization, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), in Tawila. She cares for women like herself. She is one of nearly 380 MSF healthcare workers who, though displaced themselves, continue to protect the health of others.
#Elhadi*, from the jails of El Fasher
Elhadi's voice is quiet. He is only 19 but has already survived several horrific experiences. He first left El Fasher to find refuge in Zamzam camp, which was attacked and emptied by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in April 2025. As he fled the burning camp with four friends, RSF fighters robbed them at gunpoint and ordered them to run. That's when the fighters opened fire on their backs, killing two of his friends.
Days later, he was captured and taken back to El Fasher and detained in a former children’s hospital turned into a large detention site. Guards would sometimes open fire inside the ward, killing detainees beside him.
He was forced to clear bodies from different parts of the city, including the Saudi Hospital. For days, he brought carts filled with corpses from hospitals, courtyards and roads to mass graves. Always under the threat of death himself.
“Every day … that was our work. All day, for days on end.”
#Zakia*, in the school which became a home
Zakia lives with her ten children in a school building in Donki Shatta, now a shelter for displaced families. Her husband was killed while trying to exchange money in El Fasher, in the days before the city fell to the RSF on 28 October 2025.
Now alone, she is raising her children in a country where women face some of the highest risks of severe food insecurity, along with critical shortages of shelter and income.
According to UN Women, women-led households like hers are at triple the risk of severe food insecurity in Sudan.
#Three years too long
These stories are different, but they speak of the same reality: of being stripped of safety, home, health and dignity.
Three years into the war, Sudan is now the world’s largest humanitarian crisis. More than 33.7 million people need assistance – around two in every three people in the country. Nearly 14 million people have been displaced.
Famine, the most extreme form of hunger, has been identified in several areas, including parts of Darfur and Kordofan. Amid these devastating figures, humanitarians and health workers continue to come under attack, hindering their life-saving work.
#Solidarity in displacement
In Daba Naira camp for the displaced in Tawila, women prepared shared meals every evening during Ramadan, so all the families could break their fast.
During the three years of conflict, the Sudanese have always been the first to respond to support their communities. Volunteer groups, such as the Emergency Response Rooms (ERRs), have drawn on the Sudanese tradition of nafeer (collective action) to help provide food, water, medicine and shelter to people in need.
Their support is vital. Across the country, insecurity, poor infrastructure and administrative impediments prevent UN and other international organizations from accessing some areas. National organizations continue to risk their lives to deliver aid.
#Keeping eyes on Sudan
Despite the odds, people across Sudan continue to show extraordinary courage, even as much of the world seems to look away.
The humanitarian response is dangerously underfunded. Aid cuts have forced hospitals, schools and water points to shut down. Millions of people have been left without the support they need simply to survive, let alone rebuild their lives and reclaim their dignity.
While we continue to call on the international community to step up its support and push for a political solution, every contribution matters. You can help by supporting the Sudan Humanitarian Fund.