Three Years of Messages at Once – A Chronicle of Sudan’s War Revealed as Trapped Reporter’s Phone Reconnects

On 13 January, Mohamed Suleiman’s tears spilled as he finally reactivated his phone in Port Sudan’s telecoms office. The device, long silent during Sudan’s civil war, had been dormant for three years since the conflict erupted on 15 April 2023, sparked by a rift between the army and its former ally, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). After being stranded in el-Fasher, a western city under siege for 18 months, Suleiman had endured a communications blackout, unable to share the devastation unfolding around him.

“People were speaking on their phones inside the office,” he recounted to the BBC. “My phone had been silent for three years. When I inserted the SIM card, my tears flowed.” The sudden surge of messages flooded his screen—a testament to loss: news of colleagues who perished, friends questioning if he was still alive. “A few days ago, someone called me, convinced I was dead,” he said. “They had heard I was in Port Sudan, but didn’t believe it until I video-called them back, and they wept.”

“Throughout the war, my phone was a silent witness. The silence felt as deadly as the violence, because I watched systematic killings from drones and bombs, or brutal sieges that left people desperate.”

The fall of el-Fasher marked one of the war’s darkest phases, part of a broader conflict that began in Khartoum and spread to other regions, especially Darfur, the RSF stronghold. As the war entered its fourth year, the country split between army-controlled and paramilitary territories, displacing millions of Sudanese. Diplomatic initiatives led by the US have stalled, with regional allies backing both factions.

El-Fasher’s siege, intensified in May 2024, plunged the city into darkness. “Communications collapsed early in the war due to fighting and fuel shortages,” Suleiman explained. “Then came a complete blackout, making it impossible to send or receive messages.” Amid this silence, a UN-linked food monitor declared famine conditions as RSF forces tightened their grip. When the paramilitaries finally captured the city, “it was like the Day of Judgment on Earth,” he said. “We saw dead children in the streets, women collapsing from hunger, too weak to carry their children.”

“There are people we know by name, whose fathers we can’t even locate,” he added. “No food, no water, no first aid. You step over the wounded, cry, and keep walking.”

While the RSF admits “individual violations” during the takeover, they claim investigations are ongoing and that the scale of atrocities has been exaggerated by opponents. Both sides face accusations of war crimes, including civilian casualties from aerial and drone strikes. Despite the chaos, Suleiman’s account offers a glimpse into the war’s toll: the erosion of identity, life, and basic survival for the innocent. “The audio-visual media failed to capture the full horror,” he said. “Until now, the world didn’t know what happened in el-Fasher, nor did the state.”