Staff Writer
Mahanna Abderrahmane used to drive his truck to the Red Sea ports four times per month to load cargo for distribution to Sudan’s many regional states,** but since the war tore through his nation, he hasn’t done anything.**
He is 200 kilometers south of Khartoum’s capital, in a café near Wad Madani, where he is enjoying coffee and hookah after hookah.
He told AFP that throughout his 20 years as a truck driver, he had “never seen anything like this”. He claims, “I haven’t made a single load in three weeks.”
And he’s not the only one, either. Numerous trucks are parked all around, and their drivers are passing the time by working. While some are playing cards, others suggest having a cup of coffee.
In al-Jazira state, which has likely seen the most displaced people from the war, the ladies who run the little roadside cafés serve tea or coffee to customers.
More than 1.5 million people have escaped Khartoum since the city was attacked. Most of them have found that heading south, towards Wad Madani and its vast, lush plains tucked between the Blue and White Niles, has been the simplest goal.
90% of road transport traffic has vanished, according to the Sudanese Chamber of Transport, since the army under General Abdel Fattah al-Burhane and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) under General Mohamed Hamdane Daglo went to war on April 15.
The Sudan Ports Authority reports that since January, total exports have peaked at 282 million dollars, compared the first half of 2021 with 2.5 billion USD.
- Khartoum is not reachable
The combined effects of the war and rising prices have been felt by Mohammed al-Tijani, a truck driver.
This guy in his fifties claims that since the fighting began, “our journeys to the ports have been extended by at least 400 km” since he now has to pass through Khartoum while being bombarded by artillery, fighter jets, and checkpoints manned by the various forces deployed.
Additionally, assuming there is any gasoline available at the pumps, the price has jumped twenty-fold.
Exportable products are practically nonexistent right now because most factories, mostly in Khartoum, have been shelled and storage silos have been plundered.
Additionally, passenger buses no longer travel to the capital.
Hussein Abdelqader, the driver, told AFP that “70% of journeys were to and from Khartoum.” We make significantly fewer trips today because we only travel to the other cities in the nation.
Moataz Omar used to travel the 1,000 kilometers between Khartoum and the Egyptian border before the conflict, so he has been able to keep up some level of activity.
He drove hundreds of fleeing families for several weeks because they chose exile over being surrounded by fighting.
But it became hard to enter Khartoum as the violence grew increasingly violent, he claims.
As a result, we had to avoid the capital, but because of the highly centralized road system, it took more and longer to go between states.
- No pay –
“We are now 2,600 kilometers away.” According to Mr. Omar, we must travel to the east, passing through the Red Sea state, the states of Kassala and Gedaref in the south-east bordering Ethiopia, and “then al-Jazira” in the far north.
As a result, there are fewer passengers: “sometimes I wait two days before I have people who want to go from Wad Madani to Kassala or Gedaref or even Damazine, in the state of Blue Nile”, which borders Ethiopia.
“We’re genuinely terrified of losing everything,” complains Mr. Tijani, “because our firms won’t pay us if they don’t have any money coming in.
The train used to be a viable alternative to buses. But on April 15, as the first shots were fired in Khartoum, the trains from Wad Madani or Atbara, further north, made a U-turn. They have remained at their places ever since.
The freight wagons had also come to a complete stop.
Before, they all gathered in Khartoum, particularly in Khartoum-North, its industrial district, according to a railway worker.
Khartoum-North is currently a deserted town without electricity or water.
And the majority of its residents miss it. Egypt or Wad Madani.
