When the sun rose over the small farming village of Shag al-Num in Sudan’s Kordofan region on July 12, 2025, the day began with a nightmare that would leave scars for generations. As gunfire erupted and the roar of engines echoed across the fields, Ahlam Saeed, a 43-year-old widow and mother of four, found herself thrust into chaos. "They were firing at everything and in every direction," Saeed recalled in an interview with The Associated Press. "In an instant, all of us in the village were fleeing for safety."
What unfolded that morning was one of the deadliest attacks in Sudan’s ongoing civil war, a conflict that has gripped the northeastern African nation since April 2023. According to rights groups tracking the violence, at least 200 people—many of them women and children—were killed in the initial assault on Shag al-Num. The violence did not stop there. Over the next two days, attacks across Shaq al-Noum and nearby communities claimed the lives of more than 450 civilians, including 35 children and two pregnant women, UNICEF reported.
The attackers, identified by villagers and humanitarian monitors as fighters from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and their allied Janjaweed militias, stormed into Shag al-Num in a convoy of at least two dozen vehicles, many of them motorcycles. Their spree was marked by indiscriminate shootings, looting of homes, and the theft of valuables—especially women’s gold. "It was as if the hell’s door was opened," Saeed said, her voice trembling as she described how her straw house and those of her neighbors were set ablaze. One RSF fighter, she remembered, seized her necklace as she and her children—aged 9 to 15—fled for their lives.
Some villagers, desperate to protect their homes, took up rifles in a futile attempt to resist the onslaught. Witnesses recounted how the RSF fighters quickly overpowered these young defenders, continuing their rampage through the community. The violence was not limited to gunfire and arson; villagers also reported widespread sexual violence. One woman described seeing three men in RSF uniforms dragging a young woman into an abandoned house. Later, she met the victim, who confirmed she had been raped.
Satellite imagery from July 13 and 14 provided by the Humanitarian Research Lab at the Yale School of Public Health confirmed the scale of the destruction. The images revealed "intentional arson attacks" and "a large smoke point" over Shag al-Num, with numerous buildings razed and still smoldering. In the aftermath, survivors like Saeed and her family joined a wave of displaced people, leaving behind a village reduced to ashes and heartbreak.
This attack is just one chapter in a civil war that has already claimed more than 40,000 lives and displaced as many as 14 million people, according to humanitarian groups. The conflict, rooted in a bitter power struggle between Sudan’s military and the RSF, has devastated the country, triggering outbreaks of disease and pushing many regions to the edge of famine. Atrocities including mass killings and mass rape have become tragically familiar, particularly in Darfur, prompting the International Criminal Court to launch investigations into possible war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The Kordofan region, where Shag al-Num is located, has emerged as a major front line since the military recaptured Khartoum earlier in 2025. The area’s strategic importance cannot be overstated. "Kordofan has become the most strategic area of the country," Cameron Hudson, an Africa expert with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, explained to AP. Control of Kordofan means access to vital supply routes and, crucially, oil resources that have long fueled Sudan’s internal conflicts.
The fighting has only deepened the suffering of civilians. In Kadugli, the capital of South Kordofan, roads are cut off and supply lines have collapsed. Residents now walk miles just to find basic items like salt or matches, said Kadry Furany, Sudan country director for the aid group Mercy Corps. In Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan, a mental health therapist—speaking anonymously for safety—described supporting ten women and girls who had endured sexual abuse, including rape, in RSF-controlled areas in July alone. Among the victims were two women from Shag al-Num.
To the west, the city of el-Fasher stands as the military’s last stronghold in the five-province Darfur region. For over a year, el-Fasher has been hammered by constant RSF bombardment, leaving its residents among the hardest hit by hunger and disease outbreaks. The United Nations has sounded the alarm, with the World Food Program warning in August 2025 that 300,000 people in el-Fasher are "trapped, hungry and running out of time"—at risk of starvation without immediate and sustained access to aid. "Everyone in el-Fasher is facing a daily struggle to survive," said Eric Perdison, the program’s regional director.
The situation in el-Fasher has become even more dire due to a total blockade imposed by the RSF and Janjaweed allies. Satellite analysis by Yale’s humanitarian lab confirmed that no routes out of the city remain under military control. The blockade has sent food prices skyrocketing—up to 460% higher than elsewhere in Sudan, according to the African Center for Justice and Peace Studies. Most staple foods are now scarce or simply unavailable. Civilians trying to escape must pass through a single RSF-controlled checkpoint, where many have been robbed, forced to pay bribes, or even killed, according to aid workers and local residents.
On August 2, 2025, a group of desperate civilians—including women and children—attempted to flee el-Fasher. When they reached Garni, a village on a critical supply route northwest of the city, they were ambushed by RSF fighters. "They tell you to leave, then they kill you," said al-Amin Ammar, a 63-year-old survivor. "It’s a death trap." At least 14 people died in the attack, and dozens more were wounded, reported the Emergency Lawyers rights group.
As if violence and hunger weren’t enough, the region is now battling a cholera outbreak. Adam Regal, spokesman for the General Coordination aid group, described how many people have nothing to eat and have resorted to consuming cattle fodder to survive. Some, he said, have not even found that. He shared haunting images of emaciated children with exhausted, malnourished mothers on the outskirts of el-Fasher and the nearby town of Tawila. "People don’t await food or medicine," Regal said. "Rather they await death."
One of those suffering is the 12-year-old son of Sabah Hego, a widow. He was admitted with cholera to a makeshift hospital in Tawila, joining dozens of other children. "He is sick, and dying," Hego told AP. "He is not alone. There are many like him."
As the war grinds on, the stories of survivors like Saeed and Hego are a sobering reminder of the immense human cost of Sudan’s civil conflict. The world watches as millions struggle to endure violence, hunger, and disease—hoping for a day when the gunfire will finally cease and the villages of Kordofan and Darfur can begin to heal.
