‘Nobody is okay’: Halifax’s Sudanese community fear for family and friends amid conflict

Members of Halifax's Sudanese community are concerned about family and friends, as deadly fighting between rival military factions continues to destabilize the capital of Khartoum.

Halifax’s Sudanese community is working together to send aid and support, as family and friends in their home country try to flee the conflict raging there.

Fighting began to break out across the country on April 15, including in the capital city of Khartoum.

From the moment the fighting began, Huwaida Medani feared for her family members who are trying to survive in Khartoum.

“For most of them, they have fluctuating power, some of them do not have water, food is getting scarce and nobody is okay,” she said.

Medani is the president of the Sudanese Association of the Maritimes and has lived in Nova Scotia for 18 years, ever since she moved from Sudan. Her concern about her homeland is shared with the rest of the Sudanese community in Halifax.

“We have a very wounded community in Halifax because a big number of them are refugees, because of what they have seen in their areas in Sudan. They fled Sudan many years ago and they were hopeful that things would be better, but things are unfortunately deteriorating now.”

The last time Khartoum was invaded was in 1884 when the Mahdist army besieged the city, until it fell on January 26, 1885. Currently the city has a population of around 9 million residents.

Now the city is currently being torn between the forces of Sudan’s army led by Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) led by Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo. Both al-Burhan and Dagalo originally worked together in organizing a coup that resulted in the end of a civilian-ruled government in October 2021.