RSF continue raids into eastern Al-Jazeera, Hilaliya residents remain trapped

7 November 2024

Under the cover of darkness, Halima Ismail and her family sneaked out of their home in the Al-Hilaliya area, east of Al-Jazeera State in central Sudan, as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) entered the town at night and began storming homes. Halima took refuge in an agricultural project and found nothing but unharvested corn cobs to satisfy her hunger.

Halima, a pseudonym to protect her identity, hid in the Al-Hilaliya Green Project for several days. After a relative calm, she tried to return to her home—only to find RSF roaming within her town, attacking civilians. Halima was forced to take refuge in a mosque east of the town, where she found hundreds of her villagers trapped there without food or water, afraid to step outside.

The residents of Al-Hilaliya faced a tragic reality: unable to leave the town safely, many are silently starving as they remain under siege by the RSF, who have stripped them of all possessions, including clothes and blankets.

Since mid April last year, Sudan’s national army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have fought a war of economic and political dominance. The warring parties are also targeting the local populace, showing no regard for the lives of civilians. There are no military targets in the villages RSF continue to raid in Al-Jazeera State, for instance. 

Mohamed Ahmed, a social activist in Al Jazeera State, said that hundreds of citizens are under siege by the Rapid Support Forces in the Al-Hilaliya area, gathering in three mosques east of the city. They are facing severe humanitarian conditions, with no access to food, drinking water, or medical care.

Al-Hilaliya is one of about 89 villages in eastern Al Jazeera State that were attacked by the Rapid Support Forces in late October. According to a statement on Wednesday by the human rights group, Al Jazeera Conference, the death toll of civilians in the Al Hilaliya area has risen to 67 people. 

Halima Ismail and her family, including her husband and five children, were able to leave Al-Hilaliya and reach the Umm Dhoban area east of the capital, Khartoum. While Halima and her family managed to escape, hundreds remain trapped in Hilaliya.

The RSF imposed a hefty tax on anyone who leaves Al-Hilaliya, charging the impoverished citizens 100,000 Sudanese Pounds (roughly $42). “The Rapid Support Forces attacked Hilaliya at night and started beating and assaulting civilians, which forced all the residents to flee the town and head to the eastern outskirts of the city,” Halima Ismail told Ayin. “They are without food and cannot leave because of the presence of Rapid Support Forces on the road and the high economic cost, as one person needs 100,000 Sudanese pounds to leave,” she said.

She stressed that some residents are trying to sneak into their homes to bring some clothes, blankets, and shelter supplies, given the difficult situation with the onset of winter, but the RSF are attacking and arresting them.

Looting and terrorising

For his part, Othman Al-Amin, one of the residents who was displaced from the Al-Hilaliya area, told Ayin, “We were forcibly expelled from our homes, prevented from carrying our belongings, and women and men were subjected to threats of death in exchange for handing over their valuables, such as gold, cash, and other items,” former Al-Hilaliya resident Othman Al-Amin said. “Even children were not spared from these violations.”

He added, “People died of severe diarrhoea in the complete absence of medical care. They also lack food and water after the Rapid Support Forces stripped them of all their possessions.”

The areas of Tambool and Al-Sariha in eastern Al-Jazeera State witnessed similar massacres carried out by the Rapid Support Forces, which claimed the lives of hundreds of citizens, leading to the displacement of the majority of their residents to safe states.