Sudanese continue to suffer silently and painfully a year after the outbreak of the war, without the world caring about their pain or taking action regarding their deaths, displacement, and the rape of women by armed militias.

What Sudan and the Sudanese are witnessing has been described in human rights reports in various ways. Human Rights Watch described the situation as “a year of horrors,” and phrases like “mass ethnic killing” have been repeated, with the harshest being “the largest internal displacement in the world.” The International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported that 10.7 million people have been displaced from their homes in Sudan, including 9 million internally displaced persons, two-thirds of which have been displaced since the outbreak of the conflict in April 2023.

The IOM added that “Sudan now has the highest rate of internal displacement in the world, exceeding the number of displaced persons in Syria, which is 7.2 million.”

Sudanese are forced to cross the dangerous and illegal desert route due to their inability to obtain entry visas after most embassies in Khartoum have shut down, leaving them no choice but to head to Egypt.

There is only one Egyptian consulate in the border area of Wadi Halfa, which is overcrowded with thousands of people. As such, the Sudanese have to wait for visas for months, sheltering in schools, public squares, roads, mosques, and hotels.

Many do not succeed in obtaining the visa in the end, and they have no choice but to take the desert route and risk their lives and the lives of their children in the hope of reaching Egypt.

Angham, who crossed the desert to Egypt, told Daraj: “Unfortunately, we had to choose between dying of hunger and shelling in Sudan, or dying in the desert on our way to safety.”

“Even though there is no Egyptian embassy in Khartoum to obtain a visa, a lack of hospitals and medical services, and the disruption of communication networks and the internet, life in Sudan has become almost impossible, and we know that this road is fraught with risks and difficulties, but we have run out of solutions,” she added.

The Difficulties of Getting to Egypt and its Ensuing Challenges

The journey to Egypt through the desert is difficult and dangerous, and over time, the situation has become more tragic, as women and children are exposed to conditions of extreme hunger, cold, and sleeping in the open air. Most children suffer from diseases and pneumonia due to the desert sands, in addition to the horror, panic, tension, and fear of roadblocks and armed groups.

“Our journey began from Khartoum Bahri, to Atbara, and from Atbara we moved to the Abu Hamad area, which is the starting point for our trek to Egypt through the desert. We travel in open half-transport carts, we are tied with chains and ropes to prevent us from falling off the carts, because they move at a crazy speed and do not stop no matter what happens, no matter how much we beg the driver to stop,” Fatima told Daraj. 

The journey takes, according to Fatima, between three to ten days, “during which you feel at every moment that you are going to die, and you do not know if you will actually arrive.”

 “I am fortunate enough that the car continued to travel on the road and did not leave us in the desert,” said Fatima. 

Children are the Ones Who Suffer the Most

Rahma and her children suffered a lot: they drank water mixed with gas, as there is not enough water for everyone, and their journey lasted four days during which they only had one meal.

Her older children were able to endure, but the problem was with the younger ones, as Rahma did not know how to make them patient. She provided them with water and food, and despite that, they could not endure the journey and continued to cry and scream throughout.

During a conference about Sudanese children held on April 15, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said: “What we are witnessing in Sudan is the worst crisis of displacement for children in the world,” and “despite entering its second year, it is practically absent from our daily news,” also stressing that “every life is equally important, whether in Ukraine, Gaza, or Sudan.”

The Health and Psychological Costs of Crossing the Desert

The majority of women reach Egypt bearing the psychological effects of panic attacks, fear, tension, insomnia, and recurring nightmares, in addition to their inability to forget what they experienced during the journey, such as the death of a passenger, or being threatened or mistreated by car drivers, and their fear of dying in the desert with their children.

Added to the above is physical harm, such as skin infections, scorpion bites, pneumonia, physical bruises, dehydration due to lack of water, digestive problems, and many other diseases.

Recounting a story from her journey, Tahani told Daraj: “Two children who were with us died due suffering from asthma. They could not bear the desert sands, so the driver had no choice but to leave the mother with the bodies of her two children in the desert to bury them and continue his journey without them.”

As for Hala, she stayed a whole week in the hospital when she arrived in Egypt, due to scorpion bites and skin infections, in addition to her suffering from psychological shock and panic attacks. “There was an elderly man in the transport car who wanted to reach Egypt for treatment, but he died of exhaustion. We buried him in the desert and continued our journey,” Hala recounted. 

“I can’t comprehend the idea that we bury people in the desert and continue our journey, I can’t believe this tragic situation we have reached, we bury people as if they were worthless, as the driver cannot bear the responsibility of a body in the car, so who witnesses our sorrows, tragedies, and deaths, and who cares about what is happening to us in Sudan?! I feel a great shock.”

It is worth mentioning that the suffering of the Sudanese, which has become unbearable after a year of fighting, is almost absent from the media and daily reports. In the Ambelia camp near the city of Adre, Chad, some suffer from permanent disabilities that could have been avoided if they had undergone surgery.

Christian Lindmeier, a spokesperson for the World Health Organization, told Agence France-Presse, that 70 to 80 percent of Sudanese health facilities are no longer functioning due to the fighting. He added: “Some states, such as Darfur, have not received medical supplies over the past year. Time is running out.”

Women and Families Are Subjected to Fraud

There are no statistics documenting the number of bodies buried in the desert, and often families of the victims do not know the truth about what happened to their family members. Did they die of hunger and thirst or were they abducted?! There is still no sufficient information nor figures about this disaster, especially since transport car drivers pressure passengers to bury the bodies in the desert and continue their journey.

Kholoud, a mother of a toddler and three other children of different ages, fell victim to fraud and deception. The driver of the transport car dropped them off in the middle of the desert and promised to return after an hour, but he did not return, and she spent three days in the desert with other passengers waiting for another driver who might allow them to continue their journey with him.

“We slept on the desert sands as fear, insomnia, horror, and panic dwelled in our bodies, wondering if we would wake up the next day or die from scorpion bites and hunger,” she said

“Every ten transport cars set off together. It’s never just one car alone. This is their way of protecting themselves from roadblocks and armed groups on the desert road, so we had to wait five days in the open to find another transport car and pay the fare again.”

All the women we met confirmed their awareness of the danger of this road and its illegality, and that the chances of death are high, but they also have no choice but this solution.

The Trail of Survival/Death in the Desert

The journey starts from the gold mining areas in Sudan, then passes through the deserts along the common border between Egypt and Sudan, which extends for more than 1200 km. The cost of this journey, according to the women we met, ranges between three hundred and five hundred dollars per person.

Recently, the price has risen after the entry of the Rapid Support Forces into the Medani area, which was a haven for many Sudanese displaced from Khartoum and Omdurman.

According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the number of people crossing from Sudan to Chad has increased in recent weeks to a rate ranging between 500 and 600 people per day.

Half a million Sudanese have arrived in Egypt legally according to the commission, but there are no statistics or information about the individuals who arrived illegally through the desert, and no accurate information about the desert route.