Amid violence and desperation, people in Sudan are still making their voices heard

Transcript

SCOTT DETROW, HOST:

After nearly a week of war in Sudan, neither the army nor the powerful paramilitary group are backing down. The guns haven't even been silenced for the end of Ramadan today. Both sides claim they are fighting for the Sudanese people, but that is a claim most people in the country reject. And amid the gunfire, bombing and shelling, some still find ways to make their voices heard, as NPR's Emmanuel Akinwotu reports.

(SOUNDBITE OF SPRAYPAINTING)

EMMANUEL AKINWOTU, BYLINE: At night in Khartoum, during moments when the artillery and gunfire subside, Duaa Tariq and her friends walk together through the battered, disfigured streets.

(SOUNDBITE OF SPRAYPAINTING)

AKINWOTU: They spray the words no to war on walls around the city. And they chant so that people sheltering in their homes can hear them.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Chanting, non-English language spoken).

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Chanting, non-English language spoken).

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Chanting, non-English language spoken).

DUAA TARIQ: Oh, revolutionary, continue chanting. Tell the people of the neighborhood I'm coming as long as I'm alive. You're safe. Don't be scared.

AKINWOTU: Duaa is an activist and part of a group called No to War, which formed just after the fighting started. Before then, she was a member of one of the resistance committees, which organized during the revolution that toppled Sudan's longtime leader, Omar al-Bashir, in 2019.

TARIQ: The idea came when we feel - we felt the sound of the bullets silencing our voices.

AKINWOTU: But after a week of war, there are fewer people left to hear them. Thousands are fleeing Khartoum as the city is destroyed by the conflict. Dead bodies lay strewn on the roadsides or kept inside homes because they can't be buried. Many in Khartoum are at home without electricity or water and weighing the threat of running away against the threat of staying behind, knowing either could kill them.

KHALID OSMANO: My mom was - she was an angel. She was a true angel.

AKINWOTU: Sixty-six-year-old Nagwa Khalid Hamad died in her living room in Khartoum when a mortar hit her home. She was killed by shrapnel, which pierced through the windows. She was a wife and a mother of four children. Her youngest child is 30-year-old Khalid Osmano.

OSMANO: Obviously, my mom did so much good to people that I didn't even know about. I'm not saying that because I'm her son.

AKINWOTU: Khalid lives in Ohio, and he was trying to get his mother a green card to bring her to the U.S. He says it was a backup plan because she didn't want to leave Sudan.

OSMANO: My mom loved her country so much. And my mom just didn't want to leave the country. She wanted to stay. She's - she hated that coup regime that Omar al-Bashir was leading. And this new one, she just wanted, like the rest of the people, she wanted a civilian-led government.

AKINWOTU: Bashir was deposed after 30 years in power during the revolution in 2019. Khalid's mother and millions in Sudan truly believed in the promise of a country free of military rule. But since then, that promise has faded and been shattered by the fighting over the last week.

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AKINWOTU: A fragile transition to democracy has been unraveled by the fierce competition for power between two former allies - General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the de facto head of state and leader of the army, and his deputy, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, or Hemedti, leader of the powerful Rapid Support Forces. Both claim to be fighting on behalf of Sudan, even though the conflict is destroying it.

TARIQ: Right now, most of the people I know are planning to leave. The bullets are so loud. And the fear on the children's eyes is so - it's just so frustrating. All we can do is to support and provide hugs. But also, as we need - we need to be hugged. We need to be heard.

AKINWOTU: But for Duaa, marking her resistance on walls in her neighborhood and chanting words of comfort has brought some reprieve and a sense of defiance. For brief moments between the violence, she feels she has a voice.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Chanting, non-English language spoken).

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Chanting, non-English language spoken).

TARIQ: And don't forget. Even when it gets dark and ugly, we're here around you, holding you down.

AKINWOTU: Emmanuel Akinwotu, to NPR News, Lagos. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.