Survivors tell of terrifying escape from Sudanese city

Sudanese queue to receive aid in Khartoum on Monday. (AFP)
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Updated 09 September 2025
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Survivors tell of terrifying escape from Sudanese city

TAWILA, Sudan: Amid the intensifying siege of El-Fasher, Sudan’s last army-held city in Darfur, thousands are fleeing a 70-km treacherous trail to Tawila, littered with the bodies of those who perished from hunger, thirst, and violence. 

The Rapid Support Forces have encircled the city since May 2024, launching their deadliest assault yet and trapping 260,000 civilians inside.

Nazer Muhana Ali, 20, and his family escaped after an RSF drone strike killed his father. 

Ali drank rainwater to stay alive. For four days, Ali trudged through the scrubland west of El-Fasher, his family at his side, beaten and robbed along the way.

“It was extremely tough because of hunger and thirst,” he said. “We had nothing but ombaz to eat.”

Ombaz, a bitter peanut husk meant for animals, was all that kept them going as they fled Sudan’s last army-held city in Darfur.

El-Fasher has been under siege for more than 500 days. The only escape is a 70-km trail west to Tawila, a path littered with the bodies of those who did not make it.

Another survivor Adel Ismail Ahmed, 24, said he was in Abu Shouk camp, a few kilometers north of El-Fasher, when “a shell fell directly on our house.”

“My brother and I were inside. My hand was broken, and it still has shrapnel in it. My brother was hit in the neck and chest.”

With fighting intensifying, Ahmed decided to flee.

Mohammed Siddig, 28, also fled Abu Shouk after weeks of bombardment and hunger. “The pressure became too much,” he said. “Life was so tough.”


Flash floods kill 21 in Moroccan coastal town

Updated 15 December 2025
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Flash floods kill 21 in Moroccan coastal town

RABAT: Flash-flooding caused by sudden, heavy rain killed at least 21 people in the Moroccan coastal town of Safi on Sunday, local authorities said.
Images on social media showed a torrent of muddy water sweeping cars and rubbish bins from the streets in Safi, which sits around 300 kilometers (186 miles) south of the capital Rabat.
At least 70 homes and businesses in the historic old city were flooded, authorities said.
Another 32 people were injured and taken to hospital, but most of them have been discharged.

Damage to roads cut off traffic along several routes to and from the port city on the Atlantic coast.
“It’s a black day,” resident Hamza Chdouani told AFP.
By evening, the water level had receded, leaving people to pick through a mud-sodden landscape to salvage belongings.
Another resident, Marouane Tamer, questioned why government trucks had not been dispatched to pump out the water.
As teams searched for other possible casualties, the weather service forecast more heavy rain on Tuesday across the country.
Severe weather and flooding are not uncommon in Morocco, which is struggling with a severe drought for the seventh consecutive year.
The General Directorate of Meteorology (DGM) said 2024 was Morocco’s hottest year on record, while registering an average rainfall deficit of -24.7 percent.
Moroccan autumns are typically marked by a gradual drop in temperatures, but climate change has affected weather patterns and made storms more intense because a warmer atmosphere holds more moisture and warmer seas can turbocharge the systems.