‘Like a horror movie’: The men defending their homes in Sudan’s bloody war

A man sits by a patient at a makeshift emergency room set up by Sudanese volunteers in a school building in Omdurman, the capital's twin city, on May 27, 2023, amid ongoing fighting between the forces of two rival generals [AFP]

Mojahed was one of the few men carrying the dead body of his father’s friend, Muhammad Ahmar. Around 40 mourners had gathered in late May in the Ombada district of Omdurman, a city in Sudan occupied by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), to witness the burial of this respected figure, the head of a family in his 70s who used to be an architect.

A bullet had pierced his back during one of the RSF lootings in late May. Muhammad was deemed “uncooperative” by the members of the RSF while they were trying to requisition his car; he was shot and left for dead in front of his son.