The sun had barely risen over the undulating plains of North Kordofan when a convoy of families, dust clinging to their weary clothes, moved slowly along a cracked dirt road. Each step carried the weight of displacement, of homes left behind, of futures rewritten in the shadows of war. The rhythm of life here had become a quiet, anxious march—a hope that the horizon might promise safety rather than danger.
On Saturday, that fragile hope was shattered. A drone strike, launched by Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces, descended upon a vehicle carrying civilians fleeing the violence that has consumed the region since April 2023. In the blink of an eye, twenty-four lives were extinguished, eight of them children, including two infants. The vehicle had been travelling from the Dubeiker area toward Rahad, a journey meant to carry families away from the immediate threats of combat, only to meet a fate no one could anticipate.
Doctors and local humanitarian groups described the attack as a “war crime,” highlighting the repeated targeting of noncombatants amid the ongoing civil conflict between the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces. Across North Kordofan, roads and villages bear the scars of similar strikes—markets, fuel convoys, and aid deliveries all increasingly caught in the crossfire. For those left behind, survival is a daily negotiation with uncertainty, where the ordinary rhythms of life are punctuated by sudden violence.
Yet even in the midst of tragedy, the resilience of the displaced endures. Families press forward, seeking corridors of safety, clinging to fleeting moments of normalcy amid an unrelenting storm of conflict. The international community has condemned the attack, calling for accountability and protection for civilians, but the dusty roads of Kordofan carry the weight of a war that has forced over fourteen million people from their homes. The echo of this latest strike serves as both a grim marker of loss and a reminder of the fragile thread on which human life now hangs in Sudan.
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Sources
Al Jazeera The Guardian AP News Anadolu Agency