Heavy shelling in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum has continued after another fragile and frequently violated truce ran its course. Sudan has been plunged into chaos since fighting erupted in mid-April between the country’s two top generals, General Abdel Fattah Burhan, the head of the armed forces, and General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, the leader of a paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces. There is increasing concern for those trapped and displaced by the fighting, and aid workers and civilians have said there is a dire lack of basic services, medical care, food and water. So far, the conflict has killed at least 550 people and wounded more than 4,900. Some 334,000 people have been displaced inside Sudan, and tens of thousands more to neighbouring countries.
Sudan is no stranger to civil war. Between 1955 and 2005 (barring a momentary pause) the Northeast African country was engulfed by one of the longest domestic conflicts on record as central government tried to keep the expanding and dominating peoples of the periphery in check. Roughly two million people died as a result of war, famine and disease caused by the conflict. Four million people in southern Sudan were displaced at least once, normally repeatedly during the war. The civilian death toll is one of the highest of any war since World War II and was marked by numerous human rights violations, including slavery and mass killings.
More recently, the wars have taken on an international dimension, with leaders from both repressive and non-repressive regimes often providing military support to opposing militia. Egypt, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and several others have sought to influence the conflict, and much like the two generals in Sudan, there is a deep mistrust of their intentions. They hold sway, at least in Rory Stewart’s eyes, because of a notably diminished role of Western powers in the region. “The focus on regional diplomacy shows just how far Washington, London and other European powers have fallen behind in Africa”, he said. “We’re talking about this because of a vacuum of US engagement”.
One person who has experienced the conflict firsthand is solo adventure traveller Steph Devery, who was caught up in the war after she entered the country via Egypt as part of her cycle down the world’s spine from the tip of Norway to the southernmost point of South Africa. Devery (30) set out on the adventure of a lifetime after working as a paramedic for the London Ambulance Service during the Covid-19 pandemic and has since cycled 15,000 kilometres through Europe and the Middle East, carrying nothing more than the bear essentials in her panniers. But her trip ground to a dramatic halt after she reached Khartoum having spent 12 days cycling 850 kilometres through Sudan, often having to shelter from the scorching 45C heat in brick huts.
Speaking to The London Economic, Devery said: “I had cycled through the city the day before, it was completely calm, there was no tension in the air. Then, I woke up one morning to some gunshots and some heavy firing. And we all sort of stood on the road, and a civil war ensued. It was wild”. But Devery’s tale is not one of travesty, but actually one of humanity. After being welcomed into a home by an 80-year-old grandmother for what was intended to only be a couple of nights, she ended up living with them for well over a week as the war waged outside their windows. “They just welcomed me straight into the family without hesitation cooked for me, made me tea, I was just completely part of part of their everyday life just in the middle of this war”, she said.
Despite being poor, they shared everything they had with Devery. Conflict, in a strange way, became a normal part of life, and so they would cook, eat and watch movies as bombs were going off in the horizon. In her words, “It’s incredible how humans adapt”. Much like we learned how to spend 23 hours a day at home, online quiz until we were blue in the face and stick swabs up our nose relentlessly, those in war zones too have to find a way with getting on with life. In this case, there was an escape route for Devery, who was airlifted out as part of a French military evacuation to Djibouti then onto Paris. But for the family she left behind and the poor grandmother who did so much for her, sadly that was not the case. “I’m really struggling with the thoughts of me being safe,” she said, “and this beautiful family being in the heart of a war that may rage on indefinitely. It’s not fair, and it’s quite hard to accept”.
You can read more about her adventure and support her journey via her Go Fund Me page here.