Sudan’s war cages nomads, choking vital migration corridors
A herder with his camel in El-Obeid, North Kordofan (via Reuters)
Since 2023, Sudan’s civil war has severely disrupted the lives of nomadic herders, who are stuck in the desert outside the major central Sudanese city of El-Obeid, according to a Reuters report on February 9th.
The war between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) since April 2023 has caused tens of thousands of deaths and displaced millions, creating one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
One of the nomadic herders, Gubara al-Basheer, says that his family, who used to travel in the deserts of Sudan with their camels and livestock to move between markets, water sources, and green pastures, is not able to do that anymore.
“In the past, no one would stop a nomadic tribe’s caravan. Nor would anyone say, ‘this person is from this region or that region,’ a caravan is a caravan. A market was a market. A street was a street. We used to be able to move as we wanted. Now there is no choice and no side accepts you.” Gubara al-Basheer said.
El-Obeid is a strategically crucial city located in the North Kordofan state, serving as a key supply hub for markets across central Sudan and a vital transit point for trade that moves between Sudan’s eastern and western regions. The city is linked by road and rail to other major hubs, including Khartoum, El Fasher, Kadugli and El Fula.
It has witnessed a lot of clashes between the RSF and the Sudanese military in recent months, displacing thousands, and drone attacks directed towards civilians and markets. The people from North Kordofan have confessed to being trapped in the ethnic hatred that is largely spread online.
A local researcher, Ibrahim Jumaa, said that the situation has disturbed the delicate balance of land ownership and livestock routes that maintained the livelihoods of nomads. They also face the risk of being pillaged by bandits for their livestock, he added.
Another shepherd, Hamid Mohamed, said, “There are so many problems now. We can’t go anywhere and if we try we get robbed.”
The RSF has been accused of ethnically motivated violence, especially against non-Arab populations, which stems from a long-running conflict over land. The RSF was previously part of the Janjaweed militias that existed under the rule of former Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir, who was accused of committing genocide in Darfur in the early 2000s.
Throughout Sudan’s war, the RSF has given free rein to Arab tribes to loot and kidnap people, but many Arab tribes have not joined the fight along the RSF. Ibrahim Jumaa said, “We require a national programme to counter hate speech, to impose the rule of law, and to promote social reconciliation, as the war has torn the social fabric,”
The RSF continues to evade international law, committing war crimes and ethnically motivated violence.
Reuters, Maghrebi.org
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