Several residents of Karari locality in the capital Khartoum’s twin city of Omdurman have decried their leaking roofs caused by stray bullets from the ongoing conflict.
The residents complained following this year’s rainy season, which began earlier this week.
Sief al-Yazal Ibrahim told Radio Tamazuj that they lacked the means to repair their homes, and lamented the poor road conditions and the untidy streets, which added to their misery.
Zekra Mutasim said the beginning of the rainy season has been particularly challenging.
“The rains have been extremely challenging for us because the stray bullets have created many holes in our roofs, turning them into sieves,” she said.
She noted that their furniture had been ruined by the rains but they have no capacity to repair them or secure alternative shelter.
“The rainy season is very exhausting, with poor street conditions and exploitation by drivers, and the drainage is weak,” she added.
Maha Idris said most houses were using buckets to stop the rainwaters from spreading in the houses.
The war in Sudan broke out on April 15, 2023, occasioned by a power struggle between the two main factions of the military regime. On one side are the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), who remain broadly loyal to Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the country’s de facto ruler. The second faction are the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a collection of militia, commanded by former warlord Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti.
Both sides appear to have the weaponry and external support to continue fighting for more than a year, making the war particularly dangerous, according to an analysis by the International Crisis Group (ICG).