Mervat Abdel Qader

Sudan -The conflict that erupted in mid-April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has killed thousands of civilians and displaced millions, causing one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

Sudan has been facing the world's largest humanitarian crisis, with over 12 million people displaced and families struggling to survive amid civil war, famine and a collapsed health system. In the first five months of 2025, the number of Sudanese nationals arriving in Europe jumped 134% from a year earlier, according to a report released by the U.N.'s refugee agency UNHCR in June 2025.

According to the report, more than 12.6 million people have fled their homes, with 8.6 million internally displaced and another 3.8 million crossing into neighboring countries like Chad, South Sudan, Egypt, Uganda and Ethiopia and 53% of displaced persons in Sudan are women and girls.

A dangerous journey across the desert

Safaa and Marwa Mohamed are two sisters, who were forced to leave their homes with their children after having lost their husbands in detention centers of the RSF located in the Al-Haj Yousif area, east of the Sudanese capital Khartoum. They first tried to find a safe space in the country; however, the conflict spread across the country so they decided to cross the desert to a neighboring country in order to flee the hell of the conflict.

Safaa Mohammed told NuJINHA that she, her sister, and their children had spent for days in the desert due to the lack of security and medicine, the high cost of living, and deteriorating education system. “Staying in Sudan is more dangerous than crossing the desert. We had only two choices: to stay in Sudan amid the sound of guns or to leave the country via this dangerous journey.”

‘Women are the victims and pay the heavy price of war and conflict’

Israa Ali, a Sudanese university student, had to stop her education due to the conflict and lost her father in an artillery attack that destroyed their home in Khartoum State, the Sudanese capital. She crossed the desert with her sick mother to a neighboring country in search of safety, treatment, and education.

“We were forced to flee from Sudan after being displaced from one state to another one in Sudan. Women are the victims and pay the heavy price of war and conflict. During displacement, women and girls are subjected to various forms of gender-based violence, including psychological and physical violence. As women, we struggle to survive.”