KHARTOUM, March 16 (Xinhua) -- Thousands of displaced Sudanese are observing the holy month of Ramadan amid the woe of the nearly year-long conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
According to UN estimates, more than 8.1 million Sudanese were forced to flee their homes. Many of the displaced live in shelter centers or neighboring countries where they sought refuge to escape the devastating clashes.
With the beginning of Ramadan, thousands of these displaced Sudanese are missing out on the traditions and ambiance of this sacred time.
"My three children and I were forced to leave as living in Khartoum has become impossible because of the deteriorating security conditions," Samia Jaraqandi, a 39-year-old housewife, who moved from her home in Khartoum to Kosti, the capital city of the White Nile State, told Xinhua.
"We miss the atmosphere and rituals of the month of Ramadan, where we used to prepare for the holy month three months before it begins. We have lost security, and we have lost our homes. We miss Ramadan and the warmth of our homes," sighed the housewife.
A'isha Mohamed, who moved from her home south of Khartoum to Sinnar State in central Sudan, said that the conflict spoiled the Sudanese people's excitement for the arrival of Ramadan.
The conflict "has displaced thousands of people from their homes, so this year there will be no family gatherings during Ramadan like it used to be," she told Xinhua.
According to recent estimates by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), 6.3 million people have been displaced inside Sudan, while 1.8 million Sudanese have fled to neighboring nations including Egypt, Chad, Ethiopia, South Sudan and Eritrea.
The situations for those compelled to seek refuge abroad were even bleaker.
Mohamed Al-Mustafa Ismail, a 51-year-old Sudanese businessman, who moved to Ethiopia, said that he and his family had never expected that they would fast the holy month outside Sudan.
"We miss our Sudanese customs during Ramadan. We miss the street Iftar (the evening meal marking the end of daily fast during the holy month), the gatherings of families and neighbors, and the manifestations of solidarity during the holy month," Ismail told Xinhua.
The Sudanese residing in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa are trying to make up for the loss of the distinctiveness of Ramadan in their homeland by organizing communal Iftars in the places where they are gathered, Ismail added.
Ramadan "is a family gathering," Al-Nour Ahmed, a Sudanese refugee in the Ugandan capital of Kampala, told Xinhua by phone, stressing the longing for the joy of being together with relatives in their homeland.
"We feel extremely sad because we are far away from our homes, our environment, our homeland, and our relatives. We do not feel the same atmosphere that we used to during Ramadan," complained Ahmed.
Sudan has been mired in deadly clashes between the SAF and the RSF since April 15, 2023. Recent estimates by OCHA suggest that more than 13,000 lives have been lost since the outbreak of violence. ■
