Journalist and academic Mohamed Suleiman has recounted the brutal realities of the Sudanese civil war after his mobile phone finally reconnected to a network in Port Sudan.
Suleiman had been trapped in the western city of el-Fascner, largely cut off from global communications during a prolonged blackout. The conflict, a power struggle between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group, enters its fourth year this week, according to BBC reports.
Upon entering a telecommunications office in Port Sudan, Suleiman described an emotional moment of reconnection. "Throughout the past three years, my phone was silent. After I inserted the SIM card, my tears flowed," Suleiman told the BBC.
The device immediately flooded with three years of missed messages, including news of deceased colleagues and friends checking on his survival.
The siege of el-Fasher
Suleiman described the period of isolation as a "suffocating feeling" while witnessing systematic killings via drone strikes and bombs. He specifically detailed the impact of the RSF siege on el-Fasher, which lasted 18 months.
When the RSF took control of the city last October, Suleiman said the violence reached an apocalyptic scale. "It was like the Day of Judgment on Earth," he said.
The BBC reports that the fall of el-Fasher remains one of the war's most brutal chapters. The conflict has led to a de-facto partition of the country and has triggered the world's worst humanitarian crisis, with millions of Sudanese displaced.
Suleiman recounted seeing dead children in the streets and women too weak from hunger to carry their children. He noted that many people were forced to leave the wounded behind on the roads to Tawila because there was no way to call for help.
"There is no food, no water, no first aid to save them, or to carry them with you. You cannot do anything. So you step over them, jump over them, cry, and continue walking," Suleiman said.
Diplomatic efforts to end the fighting, led by the United States, have so far failed. Both warring factions continue to receive support from regional powers, according to the BBC.
