Khartoum- What the Sudanese “Abdul Fattah al-Dinqlawi” gathered during 40 years of his life’s work, he lost in a matter of days, after his money and belongings were looted, and he was expelled from his home by the Rapid Support Forces in Khartoum. He was forced to flee to the north of the country and then sought refuge in Egypt, where he now lives with the support of his children.
Abdul Fattah (67 years old) tells Al Jazeera Net in a melancholic voice that he was surprised after more than a month of the war that broke out in mid-April in Khartoum, by 5 Rapid Support Forces elements storming his house in the Taif suburb in East Khartoum.
Al-Dinqlawi recounts how the Rapid Support elements fired shots next to his legs after he went out to talk to them in the house’s courtyard, accusing him of being an army officer. Despite his strong denial, they demanded he hand over the keys to his car, gold, and money.
He narrates that his sick wife came out of her room after hearing the raised voices, with one of their grandchildren, and tried to calm the situation, but one of the armed men pointed the gun at the child’s head and demanded the car key, gold, and money, threatening to kill the screaming and crying child.
The same speaker elaborates that he and his daughter underwent a tough ordeal after his wife fainted and fell to the ground. He went with his daughter to his room, opened his closet in the presence of one of the armed men, took all the gold and money, including local and foreign currencies, and handed it to the armed men who drove his car and left after his daughter gave them her key while trembling from the sight of her child and the gun pointed at his head.
Abdul Fattah explains that his daughter went to a relatively far house to seek help from her doctor friend, who managed to revive his wife. They started thinking about leaving their house the next day to the Kourri area in Omdurman, where they were under the military’s control to temporarily stay with his brother.
The same witness continues his narrative, saying that he was surprised the next morning by a severe knock on the door. He went out feeling agitated and found a group of Rapid Support Forces in a car asking him to leave his house within 24 hours because it was located at a crossroads and would be a focal point for them.
Hundreds of thousands of Sudanese have lost their properties, savings, and homes due to the war, pushing their lives back decades.
Not Coming Individually
Abdul Fattah did not wait for the deadline set for him and asked his family to take some clothes, going out for hours until he found a car with a large amount of money that he paid from the remaining funds hidden in his wife’s wardrobe. They took dangerous routes, undergoing inspections by the Rapid Support Forces at 5 locations until they reached the safe Kourri area in Omdurman.
Because misfortunes do not come alone, Abdul Fattah received a call from his partner informing him that their store was looted, estimated at $150,000, including the value of electronic devices and equipment in it with the attached warehouse.
With sorrowful words, Abdul Fattah summarizes his story by saying that he had been away from his country for over 30 years in a Gulf country and returned to his homeland two years ago after completing the construction of his multi-story house. He lived on the ground floor and rented out 6 apartments on the other floors. He entered into a partnership, but lost it all in a few days. He later learned that the house was reduced to walls after everything inside was looted, even the kitchen utensils.
Abdul Fattah left Omdurman for the northern state before moving to Egypt on the advice of his children because their mother is ill and in need of medical care. He currently lives with the support of two of his children working abroad to cover his family’s expenses.
Abdul Fattah’s story epitomizes what hundreds of thousands of Sudanese have experienced, losing their properties, money, savings, and homes due to the bloody war that erupted in Khartoum and spread to other areas of the country, pushing their lives back.
Devastation to the Brink of Death
Psychologist Samia Abdullah believes that the war has directly affected the lives of a majority of Sudanese, resulting in some experiencing shock, disorders, and other psychological crises such as memory loss, forgetfulness, and bewilderment.
The psychologist told Al Jazeera Net that the most significant trigger for psychological shocks is the repeated memory of violent scenes and what individuals have been subjected to – violence, loss of possessions, looting of money and belongings they rely on, leading to symptoms of anxiety, stress, depression, frustration, and hysteria.
Samia revealed that they received reports from their colleagues at shelters inside the country or in neighboring countries indicating that some Sudanese, including businessmen or middle-class individuals, have suffered psychological traumas and are receiving treatment in psychiatric hospitals or from doctors in private clinics that offer psychological support due to the trauma they experienced. Some women even died due to “devastation”.
A person dies of devastation when they stand helpless, unable to comprehend what is happening around them, losing everything in their hands and not knowing where to go in the future, according to the psychologist.
Unemployment and Poverty
Economic expert Haitham Fathi believes that the war has led to the collapse of citizens’ living standards and an increase in the poverty rate, alongside the looting of citizens’ properties and money by the Rapid Support Forces.
In a conversation with Al Jazeera Net, the economic expert says that the migration of businessmen and traders working in industrial and artisanal sectors from labor employers to neighboring countries has led to unemployment rates exceeding 35%.
He explains that the weakness of the infrastructure operation mechanism and the service sectors has disrupted the economic cycle and worn down the production market, accompanied by the weakening purchasing power of a large segment of Sudanese, increasing poverty rates.
The same expert believes that Sudan, as a country and its citizens, is in urgent need of financial support to meet a small part of their increasing basic needs and the focus should be on local production and developing the agricultural sector to provide food.
