In the wake of reports of mass killings in the city of El Fasher in recent days and weeks, we spoke to our Darfur area co-ordinator, Awadalla Hamid Mohamed.
Practical Action’s main office in North Darfur is located in El Fasher. From there, programmes which have supported and helped many thousands of people over decades have been planned and delivered with the help and support of our partners.
A year ago, as the war raged, Awadalla was told to leave his home in El Fasher. He now keeps in touch via satellite link with people still in the city who have survived.
Through daily updates from friends and family, he has seen and heard the hardship people have faced during non-stop shelling and assaults. Yet in recent weeks, the situation in the town deteriorated further. Thousands of civilians have been killed.
The dead include many people Practical Action has worked with to deliver trainings and equipment to communities struggling to adapt to climate change. Other partners from El Fasher University have also died.
Just outside El Fasher, at least 15 villages in which Practical Action worked to help improve farming techniques, access water and improve their job opportunities, have been burned to the ground.
They are now marked by nothing more than the charred remains of straw and mud homes.
The situation is desperate. Yet, in the face of destruction, Awadalla told us how his determination to create a better future for those who have survived helps him cope with what has happened.
Leadership requires vision, not anger
“Many people, innocent civilians, have been killed and many children have been too. Some of them are colleagues and family, but we don’t give up. We need to be strong, because what has happened to my people can destroy you.
“I have been so annoyed. But as community leaders, we should not be like that. It is better for us to find a solution.
“If the anger is there, we will never end the problem. So, it is better for me to think how to help and support the people who are left.
“While we are still alive, together we must think about how to rebuild the social fabric again. There must be a sustainable solution to what has happened.”
The situation now: impact that lasts, amid total devastation
“Villages to the west of El Fasher have all been burned. There is no one living there. All of them have left for camps. Everything has been looted and they have nothing. They have lost their crops, animals and assets.
“They are in the midstream of the Wadi el Kur river basin boundary, where we have worked for years to build dams and create farmland. However, up and downstream, the news is better.
“When war broke out, I stayed until the end of the construction we planned downstream, travelling on foot or by donkeys so nobody knew who I was. And I made sure it was finished.
“After that, the deteriorating security situation in El Fasher forced me to leave, but I do feel very proud of this. The communities are still sending me updates and photos every day – as if I was still there.
“They have drinking water and water for agriculture. In the season of 2024, it was the only place in the area that people were able to grow anything. People came from remote areas to grow there.
“They are suffering, but staying in their villages and in the last three months, they have collected money together to maintain the dams.
“The people from Wada raised $30,000 to maintain the dam. It was raised from crops. It is serving a lot of people, helping them access farming land and grow the food they need to survive and they know the value of it.”
An optimistic future – calling donors to harness hope
“Of course displaced people will want to return to their villages, even when there is nothing there. They are very connected to their home area. It is where they were born. They cannot go and occupy land elsewhere. There is not enough land. And they can’t survive well in camps. They cannot spend their lives there.
“People need to build their lives again and need to have their land, have their villages reconstructed, and return to their normal work, farming. They would never think of being elsewhere.
“For now, the future depends on how the war will end. The problem in Sudan is very complicated. Most of the people fighting for the Rapid Support Forces are not from Sudan. If there is a peace agreement between the two, many will leave, and that I think will help accelerate stability.
“Until there is an agreement, people won’t go back to their homes.
“But I am optimistic about the future. I think the situation will improve but people need to be patient and it will need a lot of work from people.
“Practical Action has a very big responsibility to work here. We are a very famous organisation. People need us. They have nothing to eat and no shelter. There are a lot of vulnerable people; women, widows, orphans. We will have to consider what this has done to people – both psychologically and physically.
“So we need to think about making plans that address the needs of the people there. We should not delay. We need to be fast, and we have the experience, socially, technically, managerially. We are trusted by all groups.
“If you give the example of the burning of the villages, if we are going to reconstruct and rebuild, people shouldn’t go back using straw and local materials, which destroys the environment, We must use materials which are less harmful to the environment, so we should help with rebuilding and coping with climate change.
“We also have the experience of building dams, water harvesting techniques and agriculture. This is the basis of a good livelihood for people and will help people at least to rebuild themselves, the economy and their social structure.
“We also need to work on the social cohesion. Of course, we need to talk about that and work with people to bring them together.
“It is not simple. It will be very complicated and we will need to use our experience and plan.
“First, we can think about the reconstruction plan and then research to understand the new and very real needs for the people regarding the environment, the economy and social cohesion.
“But we will not be starting from zero – we have our experience, and the experience of the community-based organisations we have worked with.
“I am still in touch with people on all sides and we are already in conversations about how we can address this and have suggested solutions for what should happen next.
“There is also some negotiation amongst community leaders about how to adapt to the situation and live again. They want to see a way of how they can return back.
“We must use their experience and leadership, our research and vision and come up with plans which donors will want to support.
“It is only by thinking this way – of solutions and a better future – that we can live now.”
To work with Practical Action and help make Awadalla’s vision and hope for a better future for Darfur a reality, please contact our Sudanese director, Muna Eltahir on [email protected]