El-Geneina, Sudan – The lecture halls of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of el-Geneina have been turned into shelters for people displaced from elsewhere in Sudan.

Zainab, who did not wish to give her full name, is sitting among them, holding two of her surviving three children.

She once had six. But three of them were killed after what she says was a June 26, 2024, Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) attack on her home in Omdurman, part of the wider region of Khartoum – the capital of Sudan.

“We were targeted even though there were no Rapid Support Forces or checkpoints nearby,” Zainab said in a low voice. “I lost three of my children.”

Zainab was once a nurse in Omdurman, while her husband was a police officer. He disappeared in the chaos of the battle in the city that they fled from.

After abandoning Omdurman, she initially sought shelter in the college halls where Al Jazeera met her, before moving on to a small hut she built herself on the campus grounds.

She describes her home in simple terms – a cooking area with two pots, a small bedroom with a mattress on the ground where two of her daughters sleep and a bed for another daughter and her niece, while she sleeps outside the hut.

“We are relying on God. I have three daughters with me here; they need food, clothes, and drink, and all of this is not available,” Zainab said. “All the families here in the camp suffer from the same problems. Until now, there is no official organisation we rely on. Sometimes, kind people come and give us things, but it’s not enough.”

Two of Zainab’s daughters still carry injuries from the attack, with shrapnel embedded under their skin. She hopes to have them treated, but the cost is prohibitive.

“The doctor at El-Geneina Teaching Hospital told me both of them need surgery costing two thousand dollars,” she said.

El-Geneina, the capital of West Darfur in the west of Sudan, is currently under the control of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which has been fighting a devastating civil war with the SAF – which controls Khartoum – since April 2023.

The RSF took control of el-Geneina in late 2023, after what the United Nations has described as “some of the worst violence of the war” committed by RSF fighters and allied groups. UN officials and human rights investigators have described the violence, which targeted members of the non-Arab Masalit tribe, as “ethnically motivated” and “possible crimes against humanity”.

The RSF once had control of large parts of Khartoum, but was pushed out from the capital by the SAF in May 2025.

Both sides have been accused of committing crimes against civilians, although the RSF has been particularly singled out for its actions, including mass killings and sexual violence.

More than 50,000 people are reported to have been killed during the war.

Staying despite the suffering

Less than a kilometre (0.6 miles) away from the university’s medicine faculty, teacher Nagwa sits in her home in the al-Nasr neighbourhood.

She has not left, despite losing many of her possessions during the fighting.

“Before the war, life was like anywhere else,” Nagwa said. “The market was open, things were available and cheap. Government service institutions were open, and our children were studying in schools. Honestly, life was good.”

“But after the war, we truly suffered. We lost our homes, our belongings, and lives, even our jobs. I used to be a teacher; now, I lost my job and my salary was stopped, and the situation got worse,” she said.

Still, she decided to stay.

“When a person is displaced, the suffering is greater. Staying preserves what remains, even if it’s little,” Nagwa explained.

Humanitarian challenges

There are numerous challenges in el-Geneina. Drinking water and food items are expensive, Nagwa said, with aid organisations unable to cover all of the residents’ needs. El-Geneina is home to more than 120,000 displaced people.

“The arrival of the aid organisations reduced 50 percent of the suffering, but this is not enough,” Nagwa said.

The education and health sectors are also struggling, with aid organisations unable to restore either to their previous capacities.

“In the case of illness, if you have no money available, it’s either death or staying sick,” Nagwa said.

Mohamed, an official with an international humanitarian organisation, said that the humanitarian response in the wider West Darfur state faced major challenges.

The exact population of the city is unclear, partly as a result of the influx from other regions, hampering accurate planning for distribution and resource allocation.

Aleem added that limited funding for West Darfur, due to cuts in international aid, and the failure to communicate the scale of gaps and needs in sufficient detail to donors, are further complicating the response.

And so, despite a period of relative calm, and the reopening of markets and hospitals, people in el-Geneina – both residents and those displaced from elsewhere – struggle.