Few journalists have made it to El Geneina to see its dire condition, including the aftermath of two massacres in the past few months that have killed up to 15,000 people, according to the UN.
The frenzy of violence, rape and looting is considered one of the worst crimes of the brutal fire in Sudan, which has created the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
We drove from the Chadian border town of Adre with the UN delegation on a journey of less than an hour along an undulating dust-covered dirt track that cuts through a barren semi-desert plateau dotted with half-built or abandoned mud…brick buildings.
A small number of bulky trucks packed with the help of the UN’s World Food Program, as well as rickety Sudanese wagons driven by horses or donkeys, travel back and forth across a border marked by no more than a few wooden posts and ropes.
But on the other side of the border, across no man’s land in the dry wadi and along our grim route, this part of Sudan is patrolled by RSF fighters in camouflage uniforms with weapons. Some of them are just young guys with cheeky smiles.
But before leaving Adre, knowing how difficult it can be to gather evidence inside, we spent time in a sprawling informal camp run by the UN and the Chadian authorities, close to the border. A huge crowd, mostly women of all ages, some with babies in strollers, fills the vast field. This is a temporary settlement of staggering proportions.
Everyone we spoke to was from El Geneina. And they all carried their stories with them when they escaped from acute hunger and the horrors that visited their homes.
“When we were running away, our young brothers were killed,” said a confident 14-year-old Sudanese girl wearing a rose-pink headscarf, calmly and quietly talking about the terrible times.
“Some of them were still breastfeeding, too small to walk. Our elders, who were fleeing with us, also died.”
I asked her how she managed to survive.
“We had to hide during the day and resume the journey in the middle of the night. If you move during the day, they will kill you. But even moving at night is still so dangerous.”
Her family finally made the difficult choice to leave their homeland. Her mother was with her, but she did not know where her father was.
“The children were separated from their parents and husbands,” shouted an elderly woman, her dark eyes burning with anger.
“They killed everyone indiscriminately – women, boys, babies, everyone.”
“We used to get food from our farms,” said another woman as their stories bounced off each other.
“But when the war started, we couldn’t farm and livestock ate our crops, so we were left with nothing. “
