Xinhua News Agency, Khartoum, April 14,　Middle East Battlefield Notes｜Sultan: The conflict continues, the former home is only in a dream

  Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhang Mengfayez Zaki

  Walking through the streets and alleys of the capital Khartoum, what you see is shocking: burnt broken walls, broken buildings, crazy-growing weeds, mosquitoes and flies dancing, and new graves can be seen from time to time. There are no more hawking in the market, there are few pedestrians, and there is a depressing atmosphere. For countless Sudanese, the once warm home is only in dreams.

  By April 15 this year, the armed conflict in Sudan has been delayed for two years.

  This is a damaged government building photographed on April 11 in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan. Posted by Xinhua News Agency (photo by Mohamed Hamid)

  Next to a stinking ruin in Shanbad District, northern Khartoum City, 48-year-old Naval Abdul Hafiz squatted on a stone, washing the old pots and pans brought back from the shelter center, while confiding to reporters: A few days ago, our family of five returned here from Atbala, Nile. Walking on a familiar and unfamiliar street, there were gravel and rubble on both sides. "After three rounds, I couldn't recognize where my house was."

  On April 15, 2023, the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Sudan Rapid Support Forces had an armed conflict in many places in Khartoum. The damage the people suffered is unimaginable where the war spreads. Hunger, death, separation of relatives, broken homes...the conflict continues to cause a comprehensive humanitarian disaster.

  Over 700 days and nights, the reporter has seen too many separations: a father who was regretful and beat his chest and stamped his feet because his son went out to buy big cakes and died of being bombed; a boy whose eyes became empty and confused because of an explosion, and a mother who was separated from his children while fleeing and cried desperately, crying around looking for it...

  This is a damaged government building photographed on April 11 in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan. Posted by Xinhua News Agency (photo by Mohamed Hamid)

  In the past six months, the Sudanese armed forces have launched large-scale military operations in the capital and central and western regions, regaining large areas of lost ground from the Sudanese rapid support forces, which seems to have allowed people to see the dawn of the war coming to an end. Some people who left their hometown couldn't wait to embark on their way home. However, what awaits them is a home that has long been unrecognizable.

  Navaler searches through the ruins every day, hoping to regain the fragments of the warm life of the past and re-patch the appearance of home in his memory. "Family albums, carved wardrobe, children's toys and schoolbags... everything disappeared." She only found a broken photo of herself and her husband.

  When talking about her husband, tears rolled in Naval's eyes. She told reporters that as soon as the conflict broke out, her husband disappeared and his life and death remained unsure yet. Through the photos, the family "sees" him for the first time in two years. "We miss him very much, miss the warm home, and hope he is still alive." Navaler said with a sob, looking sideways at the tent built by a charity organization beside him.

  About one kilometer east of Naval's house, there is a dilapidated courtyard, and the thin and thin octogenarian Omar is watering several okra seedlings in the courtyard. Omar's only son was killed in the conflict and his grandson fled to Egypt. Not long ago, he returned to his empty home from the shelter center near the capital of Nile State with a broken blanket.

  On April 11, engineering vehicles cleared the post-war ruins in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan. Posted by Xinhua News Agency (photo by Mohamed Hamid)

  There is no hydropower in Shanbad District. Omar drags his elderly body every day, collects relief food from charity organizations, and then goes to fetch water a kilometer away, picks up firewood and cooks fires everywhere. "The grandson loves to eat okra. When these seedlings are harvested, they may come back." He muttered.

  After all, there are only a few people who have the courage to return home, and more homeless people can only lament in a foreign land in the direction of their homes. Ali Mustafa, who fled from Northern Khartoum to Nile State, was one of them. He huddled in a tent with his three children with another family. The youngest son often asks: "Where did mom go? Why do we stay in a tent? When can we go home?" Mustafa could only do it perfunctorily when facing innocent children. He told reporters that the shelter center lacks food and clothing, and lives a hard life. "I want to go back, but the warm home that used to be has long disappeared."

  Artillery and air strikes occurred frequently, with a large number of civilians killed and injured, medical and civilian facilities destroyed, and aid materials were difficult to reach... After being besieged in May last year, Fahir, the capital of Northern Darfur State, became a purgatory on earth.

  This is a damaged building photographed on April 11 in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan. Posted by Xinhua News Agency (photo by Mohamed Hamid)

  Halima Adam, who lives here, is the mother of 5 children. Halima's home was destroyed during the war. In desperation, she took her children to dig out the cellar under the ruins. With the explosion, the family hurried into the dark and narrow cellar, sometimes hiding for several days. Halima was full of worries: "The children are seriously malnourished, and I'm so afraid that I will lose them."

  The conflict that lasted for two years has killed about 29,700 people, displaced more than 12.85 million people, and 24.6 million people face severe food insecurity... Behind these cold numbers are countless unfortunate families. "This is a humanitarian crisis of unprecedented scale and severity," said Tom Fletcher, UN Deputy Secretary-General and Emergency Rescue Coordinator.

  For the Sudanese, how much more will they have to lose to wait for the peace they desire? !

  This is a damaged building photographed on April 11 in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan. Posted by Xinhua News Agency (photo by Mohamed Hamid)

[Editor in charge: Gu Yue]