The Sudan civil war began in 2023 because of a power struggle between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) which then erupted into war. The SAF took control of the government which angered the RSF. “They were shooting at the people – the elderly, the civilians, with live ammunition, they would empty their guns on them,” Ali had said. He had escaped by running whenever he could, ducking behind cover and crawling around patrolled areas. Killing is not the only problem, with over 12 million people being displaced by the RSF.

Ali, a survivor of the Sudan Civil War, spoke to reporters from the BBC about his experience. Ali had injured the nerves in his leg because he couldn’t get medicine for his diabetes. According to the BBC, even with his injured leg, Ali’s fear overpowered the pain he felt when he ran from the RSF. After running miles and miles into the hot desert, he had found Al-Dabbah, with hundreds of others hiding as well. As Ali had said, “People were out of control, they ran out of their houses, and everyone ran in different directions, the father, the son, the daughter —running.”

Ali had grown a beard hoping for more lenient treatment, because it made him appear older. Mohammed Abbaker Adam, an official that had fled to Al-Dabbah, the camp for refugees, had fled because his old shelter, Zamzam, had been overrun by the RSF. BBC stated, “They shot some people directly in front of us and then carried them and threw them far away, and on the road, we saw dead bodies out in the open, unburied. Some had lain there for two or three days.”

While the sights he saw were horrific, the miracle that he and many others escaped might cause a big ripple in the war itself. Ali had come from the recently captured city of Al-Fasher where thousands have been rumored as dead, adding to the death count of over two million. With many finding out the true horror of the Sudan civil war, time will tell what will happen in the future.