‘They are struggling in every way’: The orphaned and disabled children forced to flee fighting in Sudan
The road to Kassala is infamously hard to traverse. It has seen little maintenance over the years and during these times of war, it is ungovernable.
Trenches cut across the tarmac from one stretch of mountainous desert to another. The hoods of SUVs disappear into them and send passengers flying out of their seats as the cars buck in and out of the ridges.
For the healthy traveller, the journey is a source of pain and discomfort. For those suffering from illness and living with disabilities, it can be lethal.
Sudan’s humanitarian crisis explained
This difficult trek was endured by hundreds of vulnerable disabled civilians and orphaned children searching for some semblance of safety in Sudan’s eastern state.
One infant orphan died on the road and another died soon after arrival, their small sick bodies battered by the 24-hour passage and the violent conditions of their departure point.
But many more died in the besieged cities they narrowly escaped.
The al Maygoma orphans have been forced to flee not once, but twice
When war broke out in Sudan’s capital Khartoum between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), residents thought it would only last a few days.
The city emptied as weeks turned into months and civilians started dying from lack of food and water, on top of the ferocious armed violence.
In Khartoum’s well-known al Maygoma orphanage, 69 children died from illness resulting from the war-time conditions.
Like nearly half a million others, the orphans were evacuated almost four hours away to Wad Madani in a joint effort by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), UNICEF and government authorities.
The country’s second-largest city became a growing humanitarian hub and treatment centre for the sick, elderly and disabled.
This classroom has been converted into a bedroom for babies and toddlers
But on 18 December, the RSF captured Wad Madani and testimonies of terror, looting and murder echoed out of the former safe haven.
The hundreds of orphans, alongside adults and children with disabilities, had no choice but to embark on the arduous journey to Kassala.
When we met them, there was a sense of unease. A severe lack of life-saving supplies and uncertainty over their long-term safety.
Read more:
Inside Sudan’s combat training camps for women
Images reveal mass graves haunting a once thriving capital
The al Maygoma orphans are now settled in a primary school at the foot of Kassala’s bulbous Toteel mountain.
A lower ground classroom smells of old urine and sickness as underweight babies and toddlers roll around straw mats on the hard floor.
A round steel tray arrives with foil-covered plates and more than two dozen small children gather around.
No beds for children
“Five of them have died since evacuation. One died on the way and one on arrival. They were both in need of surgery and were declared dead in the hospital,” says Dr Abeer Abdullah Zakaria, a medical caretaker at the orphanage.
“Three more of them have died at the orphanage since. They suffered from cerebral palsy and contracted blood poisoning from their bed sores.”
Aside from a few flimsy donated mattresses, the young children have no beds to lie on.
This school in Kassala is now a shelter for displaced people with disabilities
Outside the classrooms, more children from the care homes of al Hasahisa, a town near Wad Madani, sleep under tents on the hard playground.
Their delayed and tumultuous evacuation was a source of great controversy.
Organised by committed local volunteers several days after the first group was extracted, it was held up at Kassala’s state border for another 24 hours.
Despite their living conditions, these children play loudly and joyfully – a sign of relief and gratitude for their safety after the effort to bring them here.
But across town in a shelter for displaced people with disabilities, there is a longing for home.
‘Struggling in every way’
The parents tell us that they designed their houses around their children’s needs. Now, they are huddled in classrooms with strangers.
“You cannot even imagine having a child with severe autism and living in a displacement shelter and lacking basic necessities. They can’t just eat anything or stay in any room. They are struggling in every way,” says Nemat Hassabu Ali.
She fled her house in Bahri, Khartoum, with her two sons. Both have been diagnosed with severe autism and the sound of airstrikes and shelling was overwhelming for them.
She was hesitant to evacuate immediately over concerns that few would accept and accommodate her children.
They ended up leaving after running out of food.
Corpses littered the ground around their home as they escaped, she says. Her youngest son, Motaz, still obsessively draws the corpses he saw that day.
In Wad Madani, where they sought safety for weeks before the RSF advance, and now here in Kassala, her children continue to suffer in a crowded shelter that is far from their purpose-built home.
“We just hope that the war ends and we can go back to our home,” says Nemat with teary eyes.
Tens of thousands of people have been killed in the Sudanese city of Al Fashir by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in a two-day window after the paramilitary group captured the regional capital, analysts believe.
Sky News is not able to independently verify the claim by Yale Humanitarian Labs, as the city remains under a telecommunications blackout.
Stains and shapes resembling blood and corpses can be seen from space in satellite images analysed by the research lab.
Al Fashir University. Pic: Airbus DS/2025
Al Fashir University. Pic: Airbus DS/2025
Nathaniel Raymond, executive director of Yale Humanitarian Labs, said: “In the past 48 hours since we’ve had [satellite] imagery over Al Fashir, we see a proliferation of objects that weren’t there before RSF took control of Al Fashir – they are approximately 1.3m to 2m long which is critical because in satellite imagery at very high resolution, that’s the average length of a human body lying vertical.”
Mini Minawi, the governor of North Darfur, said on X that 460 civilians have been killed in the last functioning hospital in the city.
The Sudan Doctors Network has also shared that the RSF “cold-bloodedly killed everyone they found inside Al Saudi Hospital, including patients, their companions, and anyone else present in the wards”.
World Health Organisation (WHO) chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said it was “appalled and deeply shocked” by the reports.
Satellite images support the claims of a massacre at Al Saudi Hospital, according to Mr Raymond, who said YHL’s report detailed “a large pile of them [objects believed to be bodies] against a wall at one building at Saudi hospital. And we believe that’s consistent with reports that patients and staff were executed en masse”.
In a video message released on Wednesday, RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo acknowledged “violations in Al Fashir” and claimed “an investigation committee should start to hold any soldier or officer accountable”.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Army soldiers ‘fled key Sudan city’ before capture
The Saudi Maternity Hospital in Al Fashir. Pic: Airbus DS /2025 via AP
The commander is known for committing atrocities in Darfur in the early 2000s as a Janjaweed militia leader, and the RSF has been accused of carrying out genocide in Darfur 20 years on.
Sources have told Sky News the RSF is holding doctors, journalists and politicians captive, demanding ransoms from some families to release their loved ones.
One video shows a man from Al Fashir with an armed man kneeling on the ground, telling his family to pay 15,000. The currency was not made clear.
In some cases, ransoms have been paid, but then more messages come demanding that more money be transferred to secure release.
Muammer Ibrahim, a journalist based in the city, is currently being held by the RSF, who initially shared videos of him crouched on the ground, surrounded by fighters, announcing his hometown had been captured under duress.
Read more:
Key Sudan city falls – what does this mean for the war?
‘Massacre’ kills more than 50, including children
200,000 trapped after army flees
He is being held incommunicado as his family scrambles to negotiate his release. Muammer courageously covered the siege of Al Fashir for months, enduring starvation and shelling.
The Committee to Protect Journalists regional director Sara Qudah said the abduction of Muammar Ibrahim “is a grave and alarming reminder that journalists in Al Fashir are being targeted simply for telling the truth”.
At least 30 people have died after Hurricane Melissa tore through the Caribbean on Wednesday.
The Red Cross said early indications show the storm has been a “disaster of unprecedented catastrophe”.
Storm Melissa has so far ravaged through Jamaica, Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Cuba.
At least 34 are estimated to be dead in the Caribbean, with eight of those in Jamaica, one in the Dominican Republic and 25 in Haiti.
This was down from a previously reported 40.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
‘Unimaginable’ destruction of Hurricane Melissa
‘Heartbreaking’ aerial footage reveals scale of destruction
Later on Wednesday, the Jamaican government confirmed four people – three men and one woman – had been killed. This figure later rose to eight.
Local government minister, Desmond McKenzie, said: “They were discovered after being washed up by the flood waters generated by the hurricane.”
Devastating aerial footage shows towns destroyed by the storm.
The Jamaican prime minister, Andrew Holness, travelled to St Elizabeth, where the first deaths were reported, to inspect the storm’s impact.
Read more:
Do we need new ‘category 6’ for most extreme storms?
Sharing aerial footage of battered homes, he wrote: “The damage is great, but we are going to devote all our energy to mount a strong recovery.”
The storm made landfall in Cuba in the early hours of Wednesday morning before leaving mid-afternoon, heading towards the Bahamas.
Hurricane Melissa has ravaged through the Caribbean. Pic: Reuters
‘Whole communities are underwater’
Alexander Pendry, British Red Cross global response manager, said: “News is already coming through that whole communities are underwater and that the damage left by the strong winds has been devastating.
“The Jamaica Red Cross has been proactively supporting communities by preparing essential supplies and managing shelters. Their priority now is to reach people with aid as soon as possible.
“Across the Caribbean, Red Cross teams have been mobilising as Melissa continues its trajectory across Cuba, Dominican Republic and Haiti.”
He added: “Tragically, experience tells us that the impact on communities and individuals will be shattering and long lasting.
“We will be here for as long as people need us.”
World
Suspects arrested over Louvre heist ‘partially admit involvement’ – as officials address inside job theory
The two suspects arrested over the Louvre jewellery heist have “partially” confessed to their involvement in the robbery, according to a prosecutor.
Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau revealed the development at a news conference on Wednesday.
Four thieves stole nine items – one of which was dropped and recovered at the scene – in a heist pulled off while the world-famous Paris museum was open to visitors on 19 October.
It took the thieves less than eight minutes to steal the jewels. They forced open a window and cut into cases with power tools after gaining access via a vehicle-mounted mechanical lift.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Suspects in Louvre robbery ‘partially confessed’
Ms Beccuau also said the jewels had not yet been recovered.
“These jewels are now, of course, unsellable,” said Ms Beccuau. “Anyone who buys them would be guilty of concealment of stolen goods. It’s still time to give them back.”
‘No evidence’
Ms Beccuau also addressed reports that police believe the robbery could have been an inside job.
She said that there was “no evidence the thieves benefited from inside help”.
Under French rules for organised theft, custody can run up to 96 hours. That limit is due to expire late on Wednesday, and prosecutors must charge the suspects, release them or seek a judge’s extension.
Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau speaks during a press conference about the investigation into the Louvre robbery. Pic: Reuters
One suspect is a 34-year-old Algerian national who has been living in France since 2010, Ms Beccuau said. He was arrested Saturday night at Charles de Gaulle airport as he was about to fly to Algeria with no return ticket.
Ms Beccuau said that he was living in the Paris suburb of Aubervilliers, and was known to police mostly for road traffic offences.
The other suspect, 39, was arrested Saturday night at his home in Aubervilliers.
“There is no evidence to suggest that he was about to leave the country,” said Ms Beccuau.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Louvre jewels ‘have not returned’
The man was known to police for several thefts, and his DNA was found on one of the glass cases where the jewels were displayed, and on items the thieves left behind, she added.
Earlier, French police acknowledged major gaps in the Louvre’s defences.
Paris police chief Patrice Faure told politicians that ageing security systems had left weak spots.
“A technological step has not been taken,” he said.
Read more:
Prosecutor furious as news leaks of Louvre arrests
Makers of lift used by Louvre thieves reveal cheeky advert
Mr Faure also revealed that the Louvre’s authorisation to operate its security cameras quietly expired in July and had not been renewed.
He said the first alert to police came not from the Louvre’s alarms, but from a cyclist outside who dialled the emergency line after seeing helmeted men with a basket lift.
Members of a forensic team inspect a window believed to have been used by the culprits. Pic: Reuters
Mr Faure also rejected calls for a permanent police post inside the museum, warning it would set an unworkable precedent and do little against fast and mobile thieves.
“I am firmly opposed,” he said. “The issue is not a guard at a door; it is speeding the chain of alert.”
-
Sports2 years agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports3 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Sports3 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment1 year agoHere are the best electric bikes you can buy at every price level in October 2024