‘I cannot forget this until I die’ – Sudan’s players on horrors of civil war

Warning: This article contains themes that may be troubling to some readers.

“They didn’t even give him a chance,” he said. More than 20 or 25 shots were fired at him.

One of our early friends was with them, but he couldn’t say anything. So he only saw our friend die right in front of his eyes, and that’s it.

The fact that Sudanese forward John Mano recounts the passing of his best friend Medo is at odds with his intensely burned-out expression.

In addition to the more than 150, 000 people killed during the country’s civil war, which started in April 2023, Medo is one of them.

Mano, who made his debut for the nation’s team just months before the conflict began, claims that Medo had traveled to Wadi Halfa, a city close to Egypt’s border, to arrange travel documentation to avoid the country during what the UN describes as the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.

The 24-year-old, who spoke at the Moroccan team’s hotel during the ongoing 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon), tells BBC Sport Africa, “I think they forgot some certificates.”

He had to go back because it was so crucial to the family. He went home and took everything.

More than 12 million people have been forced to flee their homes as a result of Sudan’s army’s power struggle and a paramilitary group’s (RSF)-spread-wide famine and reports of genocide in the western Darfur region.

Unsurprisingly, football has sat in the backseat. The league has been suspended while stadiums have been destroyed.

Al Hilal and Al Merrikh, two of the nation’s biggest club sides, have both spent the last season in the top flight of Rwanda.

We don’t have a league, we don’t have anything, but because people in my country can’t eat, they don’t have food, Mano says.

Sudan has reached the finals for the fourth time since 1976 despite all the difficulties, including having to play their home Afcon qualifying games in neutral nations.

Kwesi Appiah, the head coach of Ghana, has had to persuade players to compete without any guarantees of payment and has offered consolation on “several occasions” when squad members have lost family members.

The 65-year-old, who took over in September 2023, says, “We try to let players know, even though they’re gone,] they’re looking at you and what you can do for the nation.”

To ensure that the player returns to himself, I should give him at least two or three days off.

Some of the players have not returned from a long trip, and many have the opportunity to join a new club in another country.

Mano has relocated to Libya after joining Al Ahly and then Al Akhdar, along with other members of the Falcons of Jediane squad.

The former Al Hilal man, however, did not make it out of Sudan before receiving his own death threat.

He explains that the rebels used to halt us and make fun of us while we were traveling.

They would say things like, “You play for Al Hilal, what is Al Hilal?” Al Merrikh is my support. Nobody will ever ask me why I can kill you right now.

Bakhit Khamis, the team’s captain, and Appiah say a part of their role has been instilling a sense of family among them.

Left-back Khamis, who also plays in Libya, says that football is the only source of relief for the Sudanese people.

It is the only thing that can bring us joy and ease our pain and suffering from the war.

You cannot avoid feeling at ease because of the unity that develops within you. Sudan has become more important than anything else in our quest for strength.

One of the best things to happen to us is “this unity.” It brought us together as one people.

Appiah inspires his team to a memorable home win over Ghana in 1982, the country he won as a player and later managed twice, by motivating them to feel like they can be “the best in the world” with the right attitude.

After the game, a delegation of ambassadors from the United Arab Emirates made contact with the squad and discovered Sudanese soldiers celebrating the victory.

They “put their guns down,” Appiah says, “hoping that the war will end completely so that” everyone can return home peacefully.”

You never know, in my opinion, if we can win the Afcon by grace.

Mano describes football as a “weapon” to fight for my country, despite the soldiers’ best efforts to end their firearms.

He has promised to the fans in their home country that Morocco will be the year’s only champions in the 1970s.

You are aware that some of the fans (the fans) are unable to watch the game. They can’t hear, even on the radio.

“Every day, people are dying,” the statement read.