A pregnant woman’s diary of escape through RSF territory

In May, a princess began a dangerous journey through one of the most war in Sudan.

The semi -military rapid support forces (RSF) had just seized the city in which she lived – in the West Kurdovan State.

The road was dangerous, but she felt that she had no choice. She was pregnant in seven months.

She said: “There are no longer hospitals anymore, nor pharmacies, and I was afraid if I stay for a longer period, and I will not find any vehicles heading abroad. Travel has become almost not present: very difficult and very expensive.”

The civil war between the Sudanese army and RSF has brutal civilians for more than two years. Now, the confrontation line moved to the southern region of Kordofan, through which a princess traveled.

BBC does not use her real name to protect her identity.

When a princess escaped, she recorded audio notes that were provided to the BBC by the Global Camps group Avaaz. We also reached her by phone in the capital of Uganda, Kampala, where she was waiting for her child to be delivered.

Directly from the start of the trip there was a problem.

A prince said that RSF and his allies took control of all transportation.

When she and her husband took the truck to get her out of En Nahud, a battle broke out between the young man who rented the car for his family, and the RSF driver, who was selling more seats to other passengers.

“The driver immediately pulled his pistol and threatened to shoot at the young man who rented the truck. Everyone was pleading with him, including his companion in RSF.”

“The boy’s grandmother and her mother were crying and sticking to the legs of the driver, and begged him not to shoot. The passengers were frozen with fear.”

For a good reason.

She later told me: “I felt that if he decided to shoot, he would shoot many people, not just.” “Because he was drunk and smokes marijuana.”

Ultimately, the driver put his rifle far away, but the young man remained behind him in Ehnoud.

The truck loaded on an uneven road was launched full of digging and passing through streams, stacked by luggage and 70 or 80 people, mothers clinging to everything that can be held in one hand, and trying to maintain the safety of their children with the other.

“I was afraid all the time,” Amira said. “I kept original, the child will not come – just hope that everything is fine.”

Ultimately, travelers arrived at El-Fula, the state capital of West Cordovan. But Amira did not want to stay there for a longer period than it was, because the army was closing.

“I did not know what would happen if the army reached El-Fura,” recorded in its audio notes, “especially because the soldiers began targeting people from certain ethnic groups who thought they were linked to RSF, such as Baggara and Rizeigat.

“My husband is one of these groups, although he has nothing to do with RSF. He is a worker in the public sector and studied law – but at the present time, this does not matter. People are targeted just for their race.”

The Sudanese Armed Forces and their allied militias were accused of following up suspected civilians in cooperation with RSF in the lands they are taking, while the United Nations described it as reliable reports on the killings outside the judiciary.

The army previously condemned the “individual” violations committed by some soldiers when they were accused of human rights violations.

The army commander, General Abdel -Fateh Birhan, appointed a committee earlier this year to investigate alleged violations during the operation of the army through central Sudan.

Kordofan, which consists of three states, is now the main battlefield. The region is very important for the Sudan war, as a major oil field location, and a strategic center for major transportation methods.

The participation of other militias alongside RSF, especially the strong Splm-n, has increased violence and exaggerating a severe humanitarian crisis, making almost impossible for relief groups to send supplies.

After leaving El-Fula, it took a three-day princess and several changes in vehicles to reach the border with southern Sudan, and safety. There were endless obstacles.

“RSF drivers were working according to their mood,” she said.

“They decided to ride, where they sat, and how much they paid. There were no record prices – you had to bear it. These men were armed, and the violence came easily to them.”

She said that every 20 minutes or so, travelers were stopped at RSF checkpoints and forced to pay those stationed there.

This is despite the fact that they were accompanied by RSF escorts, who were also paying.

The food was very expensive, and the water was rare.

In a village, the chests, travelers were able to connect to the Internet, on the RSF Starlink. But even he had risks.

“Once you return online, you should be careful,” said Amira. “If RSF men hear you – as if you were watching a video of the army, running a ringing tone or song, or even mentioning only the rapid support forces in a conversation – they will arrest you.”

The road conditions were terrible, and vehicles continued to collapse – three times during the trip.

The lowest moment came in Amira when a frame exploded during her traveler through the Akassia forest, leaving the passengers who were cut off without any water. People who drive their car have no additional space.

She told me: “I swear to God, I felt that I might never reach another place again, and I died there.”

“I surrendered. I only had a blanket, so I took it, lying down and slept on the ground.

“On that day, I really felt that this would be my end there.”

But it was not the end.

Amira and her husband finally managed to ride a small truck carrying a shipment of vegetables.

The next day, they arrived at Abyei, on the border, but the travel was slowing down due to rain and floods.

At this stage they were in a car loaded with fuel barrels, which remained stuck.

“The car will drown in the mud again and again,” says Amira.

“Our clothes were soaked. Our bags, which were already destroyed by dust and heat, were now soaked.

“We were free and only prayed to reach safety.”

Ultimately, the couple arrived in the capital of South Sudan, Juba – about 300 km (810 miles) south of En nahud – where they took a bus to the capital of Uganda.

Now that you have reached safety, relief is sweet and bitter.

Amira feels desperate anxious about the family members who remained behind, sad and anxious as she is preparing for birth.

“I am very afraid of feeling born, because this is my first time, my first child and I will not have my mother with me,” she says.

“It will be just my friend and husband. I don’t know … it’s many things, not organized, it’s very overwhelming.”

Amira is the rights of women and a pro -democracy activist who undertakes relief work during the war, through what is known as emergency response rooms.

She said that her group was seen suspicious by the army. Some members were arrested.

“I was afraid of the army and military intelligence,” she told me. “They were arrested and kept the youth.

“But when the Rapid Support Forces came, they were not better. They were looting, they raped. They are doing no less than what the army is doing. They are similar.”

Despite the extensive evidence of looting and rape allegations, RSF also says it does not target civilians. It has refused to accuse ethnic cleansing, describing violence as tribal conflicts.

Both sides have denied war crimes allegations.

The challenge facing a princess now – and joy – is the mother.

But there is always a matter of whether she will be able to return to Sudan with her child.

“I hope that the situation of Sudan will improve,” she says. “It will not be the same safety as it was before, and it will not be the same, not the same places – everything will change.

“But if the war stops, there will be at least a kind of security. People will not die randomly, as they are now.”