STORY: In northern Sudan's al-Dabba, most of those who escaped the fighting in al-Fashir are women, now bearing the weight of displacement on their own, according to an executive director in the Sudanese Red Crescent.

Aid workers and women at a camp for the displaced spoke about the many caring for children or expecting babies. Some women spoke of losing their husbands in the fighting, while others were separated from male relatives whose fate remains unknown.

Aisha Abdallah, executive director of the Sudanese Red Crescent Northern State branch, said almost 80 percent of the population in al-Dabba camp are women, with the remaining being mainly elderly men.

“Some of the men were martyred, and others were captured on the road when they were trying to leave al-Fashir. There are also missing men,” said displaced Sudanese Salma Mohammed, who came to al-Dabba with her four children after losing her husband in al-Fashir. Mohammed is also pregnant in the eighth month.

One doctor in al-Dabba who herself fled the violence in al-Fashir, Umaymah Bakr, called for more specialised care for women, especially those pregnant, who she said make up around 30 percent of the camp’s population.

Tens of thousands of people who have fled al-Fashir in Darfur are unaccounted for, the U.N. refugee agency said on Friday (November 14), raising concerns for their safety after reports of rape, killings and other abuses from escapees.

Asked for comment, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) dismissed reports that men are being trapped in al-Fashir.

“The RSF does not prevent civilians from leaving al-Fashir and provides them with transportation assistance. We are taking legal measures and arresting only military personnel. Freedom of movement is fully available to civilians,” an RSF leader said.

Al-Fashir was the final stronghold of the Sudanese army in the vast, western Darfur region before it fell to the RSF on October 26 after an 18-month siege.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

Sudanese women fleeing al-Fashir describe their struggles, as men’s fates remain unknown

VIDEO SHOWS: DISPLACED SUDANESE WOMEN AND CHILDREN STAYING IN AL-DABBA CAMP AFTER FLEEING AL-FASHIR IN DARFUR / COMMENTS FROM THREE DISPLACED WOMEN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE SUDANESE RED CRESCENT NORTHERN STATE BRANCH AND A DOCTOR

SHOWS: AL-DABBA, SUDAN (NOVEMBER 13, 2025) (REUTERS - Access all)

1. WOMAN WALKING IN CAMP WHILE CARRYING BED FRAME

2. WOMAN WALKING WHILE CARRYING HER CHILD

3. WOMAN WALKING WHILE CARRYING A BUCKET OF WATER

4. TENTS IN CAMP

5. WOMEN SITTING IN FRONT OF TENT

6. TWO WOMEN SITTING, LOOKING ON

7. CLOTHES HANGING ON ROPE BETWEEN TWO TENTS

8. DISPLACED SUDANESE, NAZIK ABDELRAHMAN, LOOKING ON

9. WOMEN AND CHILDREN SITTING IN FRONT OF TENT

10. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) DISPLACED SUDANESE, NAZIK ABDELRAHMAN, SAYING:

“There’s no tent where you’ll find (women) saying their husbands came with them, except for the elderly men. But most people are like me, I have lost my husband.”

11. VARIOUS OF WOMAN PRAYING IN FRONT OF TENT

12. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) DISPLACED SUDANESE, NAZIK ABDELRAHMAN, SAYING:

“They haven’t left any man alive. Except women, children, and the elderly, but a young man, it would be impossible for him to leave.”

13. VARIOUS OF WOMEN LINING UP

14. VARIOUS OF AID WORKER FROM THE SUDANESE RED CRESCENT DISTRIBUTING PAPERS

15. VARIOUS OF DISPLACED SUDANESE, SALMA MOHAMMED, AND CHILDREN IN FRONT OF TENT

16. VARIOUS OF MOHAMMED TYING ROPE ON TENT

17. MOHAMMED SITTING DOWN NEAR CHILDREN

18. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) DISPLACED SUDANESE, SALMA MOHAMMED, SAYING:

"Some of the men were martyred, and others were captured on the road when they were trying to leave al-Fashir. There are also missing men whose fate is still unknown, whether captured or dead. The rest are currently in al-Fashir, detained there. Some (men) left Sudan at the beginning of the war. This is why the women are the ones present (here), and most of them are widows whose husbands were martyred in al-Fashir.”

19. PEOPLE GATHERING IN FRONT OF BARRELS OF WATER

20. WATER BEING POURED INTO CONTAINER

21. WOMEN POURING WATER FROM BARRELS

22. WOMAN CARRYING A BUCKET OF WATER WHILE WALKING

23. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) DISPLACED SUDANESE, SALMA MOHAMMED, SAYING:

“I am one of those whose husbands were martyred in al-Fashir. I have four children, three girls and a boy, and I am now seven-month pregnant, just entered into my eighth month.”

24. WOMAN SITTING ON THE GROUND NEXT TO BOY

25. TENT WITH BANNER READING (Arabic): “Public Prosecution. The investigation committee into the abuses on the displaced from the states of Greater Darfur and Greater Kordofan, in al-Dabba.”

26. WOMEN GATHERING IN FRONT OF TENT

27. WOMEN SPEAKING TO MAN

28. VARIOUS OF DISPLACED SUDANESE, FATIMA AL-SAYED, WALKING

29. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) DISPLACED SUDANESE, FATIMA AL-SAYED, SAYING:

“The war finished them (men) off. We have no man or a brother left to stand by us, we’re only women left.”

30. VARIOUS OF RED CRESCENT AID WORKERS SPEAKING TO WOMEN

31. RED CRESCENT AID WORKERS GIVING WOMAN AID SUPPLY

AL-DABBA, SUDAN (NOVEMBER 14, 2025) (REUTERS – Access all)

32. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE SUDANESE RED CRESCENT, NORTHERN STATE BRANCH, AISHA ABDALLAH, SAYING:

“We’re observing that the percentage of women in the camp - the number of women and children is very large, making up more than 80%. The remaining 20% are elderly men, and maybe 3% of them could be young."

AL-DABBA, SUDAN (NOVEMBER 13, 2025) (REUTERS – Access all)

33. VARIOUS OF RED CRESCENT AID WORKERS DISTRIBUTING BAGS OF AID SUPPLY

34. WOMAN WALKING WITH BELONGINGS ON HER HEAD

AL-DABBA, SUDAN (NOVEMBER 14, 2025) (REUTERS – Access all)

35. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE SUDANESE RED CRESCENT, NORTHERN STATE BRANCH, AISHA ABDALLAH, SAYING:

“Some women are pregnant and at the same time, responsible for the rest of the children and having a three-year-old (young children). Honestly, these people came in very bad nutritional conditions, especially the new arrival, those who most recently arrived - they honestly needed nutrition for the children below five years old because they were clearly malnourished. Also, the pregnant women need special care, that’s why most of the institutions and the organisations that offer primary healthcare provide services for them. They are in great need for primary healthcare - the pregnant women, the nursing women and the children themselves.”

36. SUDANESE DOCTOR DISPLACED FROM AL-FASHIR, UMAYMAH BAKR, SPEAKING TO PATIENT

37. COTTON PAD ON PATIENT’S HAND

38. BAKR SPEAKING TO PATIENT

39. BAKR WRITING

40. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SUDANESE DOCTOR DISPLACED FROM AL-FASHIR, UMAYMAH BAKR, SAYING:

“Around 30% of the women in this camp are pregnant. To go back to the other point, because in most cases the father is missing or dead, they (referring to pregnant woman) suffer health wise. Even the medications are not enough, the medications we have are not sufficient - we give the patient medications for ten or 15 days then she would come back. So, there is healthcare but it is little. We need (more), especially for the pregnant women, they need time and their medications to be fully available.”

AL-DABBA, SUDAN (NOVEMBER 13, 2025) (REUTERS – Access all)

41. VARIOUS OF WOMAN CARRYING PRAYER BEADS

42. TENTS AT SUNSET