Inside the Nuba Mountains and the alliance reshaping Sudan’s civil war

Inside the Nuba Mountains and the alliance reshaping Sudan’s civil war

It is difficult to reconcile the brutal past with the contemporary reality, which emerged just as the RSF launched a campaign of indiscriminate killing in the Nuba Mountains.

Numerous victims or witnesses of those massacres reside in Nuba-area displacement camps.

Huda Hamid Ahmad, a 31-year-old mother of seven, fled a brutal attack by RSF forces on her home town of Habila in January of that year. She arrived at the al-Hilu camp in September of that year.

In response to the assault in January, Huda said, “They came to the homes, torturing, looting, and threatened to kill your children.”

Habila, which is only accessible via rough mountain roads, is 40 kilometers (70 kilometers) away from al-Hilu and has been a major site of ethnic cleansing and intense fighting in South Kordofan since the 2023 war began.

Huda’s journey was not always straightforward. She briefly settled in Kortala after escaping Habila before being forced to flee when the RSF launched yet another offensive and food supplies ran out.

Her husband, who had fled to al-Hilu shortly after the initial attack, had planned to farm and return the family’s land after it was looted and made unsafe.

On April 23, 2025, Fatima Ibrahim, 52, stands by her abutment in the al-Hilu camp.

After Huda and her children escaped Kortala with other civilians, the family was finally brought back together in the fall, but the trauma of what happened still persists.

Fatima Ibrahim, 52, fled her village of Fayu in January of last year after her husband was detained by RSF fighters.

She was informed by neighbors that soldiers had demanded that they sell their tractor to pay off, but neither his daughter, who is the couple’s only child, nor his daughter, has been seen since.

She said, “I don’t even want to know what happened,” raising her voice. She continued, “I fear the worst,” citing tales of girls being enslaved for sexual gain.

She escaped along with her 82-year-old mother, her late sister’s three children, their brother, age 17, and two young girls, 10 and 12, along with her mother.

They spent nine months traveling from village to village, shifting between attacks until reaching an artisanal gold mine where her nephew worked, before finally arriving at al-Hilu in October.

As the family fled, her mother accidentally fractured her hip, which has since recovered, leaving her dependent on a cane and Fatima’s assistance for movement.

Source: Aljazeera

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