### Harrowing Realities of Sudan's Civil War Revealed Through Exclusive Photos

As the civil war continues to ravage Sudan into its third year, the stark images captured by photojournalist Giles Clarke reveal the profound devastation gripping the nation. The conflict, which erupted in April 2023, has claimed tens of thousands of lives and forced over 14 million people to flee their homes, according to the International Organization for Migration.

Shiraz Youssef, a 22-year-old resident of Khartoum who lost her hearing at a young age, recalls the day the violence began. Though she couldn’t hear the horrifying sounds of war, the graphic scenes she witnessed—terrified faces, bloodied bodies, and armed men in a frenzy—conveyed the gravity of the situation. "All I saw were terrified faces, bloody bodies in the streets—children among the dead—and armed men filled with rage," she recounted to Clarke.

The conflict between the national military and the paramilitary group, Rapid Support Forces (RSF), has led to catastrophic humanitarian needs. The United Nations has labeled the situation in Sudan as the world's most devastating humanitarian and displacement crisis. Beyond the immediate threat of violence, malnutrition, dehydration, and disease are rampant as infrastructure crumbles.

Saad Hammadoun, a 50-year-old mother of nine from Khartoum, remembers the day her normal life was turned upsided down. "It was a regular Saturday, and I was working as usual, never anticipating that, in one moment, everything would change," she said. Faced with continuous bombing and gunfire, Hammadoun’s family decided to flee after a month. She now resides in Kassala, a city near the Eritrean border that has absorbed nearly half a million displaced people.

Another survivor, Fawziya, recounted her perilous journey to Kassala. "We walked for days, passing through areas where bodies were lying in the streets, and we could hear gunshots in the distance," she said. The relentless fear and lack of safety defined their exodus.

Muzan Ahmed, a 24-year-old former student, shared her harrowing experience of escaping the warzone. "The streets were filled with bodies—men, women, children. I had never seen death up close before; now, it was everywhere," she said. At one point, she stumbled on a corpse, an experience that left her temporarily paralyzed with fear.

Many in Kassala have endured multiple displacements as the conflict spreads. Afaf, a 36-year-old mother, spoke of moving with her family from city to city: "The war followed us like a shadow."

In January, the United States accused the RSF militia of genocide, with then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken highlighting targeted attacks against civilians based on ethnicity, including systematic murders of men, boys, and even infants. The depth of trauma inflicted upon Sudan's people is evident in their haunted eyes, as Clarke's images so powerfully convey.