Increasing hardships for Blue Nile State amidst conflict and influx of newly displaced

Shortages of food, shelter, and medicine, coupled with a campaign of arbitrary arrests and detentions, paint a grim picture of the reality faced by thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Blue Nile State, southeastern Sudan. As the humanitarian situation deteriorates due to escalating military operations, these displaced people are calling for urgent intervention from local and international agencies to save their lives.

The crisis worsened after many Sudanese refugees returned from South Sudan and Ethiopia to Blue Nile State due to the deteriorating living conditions in these refugee camps. The influx of IDPs has created significant pressure on the displacement camps in the state, while those still in the refugee camps in South Sudan are suffering from similar conditions.

For four years, Umm Mahlin Al-Hussein, a refugee from Blue Nile, has been moving with her four children between camps in South Sudan in search of a better life. She currently lives between the Gendarmes and Yusuf Batel camps, both overcrowded and prone to outbreaks of disease.

“The situation is extremely deteriorating,” Al-Hussein told Ayin. “Diseases are spreading, there is no treatment, and food is scarce after humanitarian aid was significantly reduced. The situation is catastrophic, especially since the influx of displaced people to camps in South Sudan continues due to the military clashes taking place in Blue Nile State between the army and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North.”

Thousands of IDPs

In August 2024, the war extended to Blue Nile State for the first time, when the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) infiltrated neighbouring Sennar State via the Al-Dali and Al-Mazmum areas. At that time, the army managed to repel the RSF via several battles in Blue Nile State, including Bout, Roro, Ahmar Mogi, Qali Al-Ja’aliyin, and Qali Al-Fun.

The situation escalated last February after the announced alliance between the RSF and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) led by Abdelaziz al-Hilu. The SPLM-N in Blue Nile State, under the leadership of Joseph Tuka, met with the RSF in Bau locality. The two forces collaboratively captured the Fajaga area and several towns in the southwestern part of the capital city, Damazin.

According to an official state tally, Blue Nile State is home to approximately 120,000 internally displaced people, spread across several camps, including 7,322 IDPs in the town of Roseires. Local residents told Ayin that the majority of displaced people struggle with food shortages and inadequate shelters that do not protect them from the heavy autumn rainfall.

Mohammed Shaib volunteers with the emergency response rooms, youth-driven initiatives to support the conflict-affected, in the village of Shammar, just north of the capital, Damazin, and home to over 4,000 IDPs. “The conditions of the displaced people in my town are the worst, especially since the area has not received any local or foreign aid,” Shaib said. “There is a scarcity of basic goods and a lack of life-saving medicines, which has led to an increase in illness and a high mortality rate, in light of the lack of a hospital capable of receiving the huge number of displaced people.”

Arrests

As the living and humanitarian situation deteriorates, government security agencies are carrying out a campaign of arrests and arbitrary detention of displaced people on charges of cooperating with the RSF and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North. Halima*, another volunteer in Damazin, reported that 13 people, including two women, had disappeared during these arrests. “They were taken by military forces several months ago on charges of cooperating with the Rapid Support Forces,” she said. The fate of the 13 remains unknown, although nine are suspected dead due to torture while under detention.

“In addition to the arrests, the humanitarian situation of the displaced in Blue Nile is deteriorating in several aspects, with maternal and newborn mortality rates on the rise—122 maternal deaths have been recorded, including 65 newborns. Concerned humanitarian organisations and agencies must urgently intervene to save the lives of thousands, especially displaced women, who continue to die.”

The same suffering extends to Sudanese refugees in the Kaya and Gandrasiya camps in South Sudan, with the influx continuing as military battles expand in Blue Nile.

In 2011, a fierce war broke out in Blue Nile State between the army and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), which was unified at the time and led by Malik Agar. The conflict caused hundreds of citizens to flee to South Sudan and Ethiopia. However, after the Sudan Peace Agreement was signed in Juba in October 2020, Sudanese refugees began voluntarily returning to the areas of Malkan, Tanfuna, Al-Fuj, Ulu, Al-Qurad, and Al-Rum, south of Ad-Damazin in Blue Nile State – only to experience conflict again in 2024.

Asylum for the second time

“After the 2011 war, about 100,000 citizens fled Blue Nile State to Maban County in South Sudan,” says Babiker Suleiman, a refugee representative in Kaya camp. “After the Juba Agreement in 2020, refugees began voluntarily returning to their areas of origin, and by 2022, the number of displaced people exceeded 25,000.” He points out that following recent attacks in Blue Nile State, residents were forced to seek refuge in South Sudan for a second time, where the camps in Gendras, Yusuf Batel, and Kaya are suffering from a lack of basic services.

Suleiman accuses the SPLM-N in Blue Nile under the leadership of Joseph Teka and civil society leader Ahmed al-Omda of exacerbating an already dire situation for the displaced in the region. However, Abdullah Ibrahim, a leader in the SPLM-N under Hilu, denies this. “The battles we are waging in Blue Nile State are still in their early stages. They target Malik Agar’s forces, remnants of the former regime, and those on alert. The remnants must not hide behind civilians and use them as human shields. They must confront our forces.”

Challenges for the displaced in Blue Nile State will only be further compounded by additional military activity. On 16 March, the RSF announced their military advance in Blue Nile State, approaching the capital, Damazin, after clashes with the army. They displayed photos of captured soldiers but did not specify which areas they had entered. The army did not issue any comment. The areas controlled by the RSF and SPLM-N in Bau locality are approximately 65 kilometres from Damazin.