War's Toll on Sudan's People
Three years of war have devastated much of Sudan, leaving thousands dead and millions displaced. The impact is etched into the skin and memories of survivors. Associated Press journalists spent over a week in and around the capital after the army retook Khartoum last year, documenting the stories of those who endured. The army continues to fight the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) elsewhere. A member of the military media accompanied the AP during interviews, but the AP retained full editorial control.
Soccer Dreams Shattered
Omer Al-Toum, 33, dreamed of playing for Sudan's national soccer team. In October, an unexploded weapon detonated in his house as he tried to use it to loosen a nail. He lost part of his right leg and left arm, and his remaining leg was shattered. Calm and good-natured, he now finds solace in his 8-month-old daughter. “When I knew that my leg had been amputated, my family expected more of a reaction from me but I didn’t show them how affected I was,” he said. He cannot bathe or get out of bed alone, and some doorways are too narrow for his wheelchair. He wants prosthetics but must travel abroad for good ones. He now coaches soccer, telling young players to stay in school. “As long as you are still breathing, you are still capable of doing many things. And when God takes something away from you, he will surely compensate you with other things,” he said.
A Sister's Death and a Survivor's Dream
Noon Madani, now 18, didn't want to leave the house in August nearly three years ago, but her older sister insisted. Paramilitary forces controlled their neighborhood outside Khartoum, but an overdue bill needed to be paid. On the way home, a missile killed her 18-year-old sister and crushed Madani's legs. Soft-spoken in her wheelchair, her legs in casts, she recalled seeing missile fragments in her sister's head as she lay beside her. “You can’t imagine when someone suddenly tells you that your daughters were hit by an artillery shell. You enter a phase of breakdown,” said their father, Omer Bakar. Madani spent six months in hospital for surgeries, battling infections. Doctors say she should walk again. Her younger brothers wheel her to school daily. She studies science and dreams of becoming a doctor. “We are trying to forget the war,” her father said, “the nightmare we finally woke up from.”
An 8-Year-Old's Scarred Life
When Fatma Ageb's house was struck in February 2025, her husband was asleep. Her older daughters had just discussed what to get their baby sister for her birthday. That was the last thing the 38-year-old remembers. The shelling killed her husband and their daughters, aged 10 and 12. It pierced her body with shrapnel and badly injured their 8-year-old, Zeinab. “If it wasn’t for Zeinab I wouldn’t want to live. She’s always calling for her sisters and father,” Ageb said, wiping tears. Zeinab's face is scarred, and she lost her right eye, now replaced with a glass one. Sitting beside her mother in a hospital, wearing a necklace with a character from “Frozen,” Zeinab shyly held up a drawing and winced as a doctor attended her wounds. Friends and relatives pooled money for her operations, but she needs more. Her mother doesn't know where to find the money. Zeinab's scars remind them of what they've lost.
A Volunteer's Burden
Tariq Abuzeid, 52, spent years helping others, raising money for soup kitchens and distributing medicine. When war came to Khartoum, the construction worker kept assisting. In December 2023, he was caught in intense shelling after distributing food, losing his right leg. Surrounded by family, he tries to be stoic but breaks down thinking about his changed circumstances. “I used to serve people. ... Now I feel like I am a burden,” he said. The attack caused massive bleeding, compromising his immune system. He takes dozens of pills daily but still feels pain. He struggles to find a good prosthetic and wheelchair in Khartoum. Yet his volunteer work continues; large metal bowls were stacked in his yard as he prepared to serve others their next meal.
Fleeing Sexual Assault
In July, hunger forced a 50-year-old woman to flee the besieged town of Dilling in South Kordofan with her two daughters. She says they were abducted by the RSF. Hands bound and faces covered, they were driven for hours to a makeshift base in the desert with over a dozen other women. The woman said she was gang-raped until she bled and was beaten regularly for months. The AP does not name sexual assault victims. The United Nations has called sexual violence one of the Sudan war's “defining features.” Each night, she cringed hearing fighters' footsteps approach the room. The men would point to the woman they wanted and take her away, she said. When they came for her daughters, aged 25 and 20, she told them to take her instead. One night when the fighters were out, she fled with her daughters into the desert. Terrified and weak, they walked for days before finding help. The RSF did not respond to a request for comment. Now they are in a center for women in Khartoum. Crying, she said a doctor told her the injuries from sexual assaults were so bad that her uterus should be removed.
