The fertile Jebel Mara region, where food rots amid conflict

There is a place in Sudan where it is almost possible to forget that a devastating civil war is being waged.

Dressed in bright colors and shod in plastic sandals, women in the country’s Jebel Mara mountains set out each morning on donkeys harnessed with children to tend the fields.

In a Mediterranean-like climate and using the fertile soil, they grow peanuts, oranges, apples and strawberries – rare crops for a country now facing one of the worst hunger crises in the world. Before the conflict, Jebel Marra’s organic oranges were particularly prized throughout the country for their juiciness.

The mountainous area in this part of the West Darfur region is dotted with green peaks, especially now that it is the rainy season.

The rest of Sudan is teetering on the brink of disaster.

Across the country, as a result of two and a half years of fighting that has crippled agriculture, almost 25 million people – half the population – face severe food shortages, including more than 600,000 who are experiencing hunger, according to the United Nations.

But in the lush mountains of Jebel Mara, the problem isn’t growing food, it’s getting the produce out.

“We sell them almost for free and sometimes we get rid of them on the way (to the market) because they spoil,” said Hafiz Ali, an orange seller in Golo, a town in the mountains of Central Darfur state.

The insecurity and poor condition of the roads make transportation almost impossible.

Jebel Mara is the last remaining territory controlled by the Sudan Liberation Army – Abdulwahid (SLA-AW). This armed group remained neutral in the current war. It has never signed a peace agreement with the authorities in Khartoum since 2003 and the Darfur conflict at the time.

The SLA-AW has controlled what locals describe as “liberated areas” for more than two decades.

Now surrounded by war on all sides, the region is increasingly isolated.

To the west and north, the Rapid Support Force (RSF) and allied Arab militias have blocked major roads. In the south, RSF positions are bombed almost weekly by the Sudanese army – these attacks also claim civilian casualties.

The RSF also control areas in the east.

The result is a closed environment where farmers and middlemen can no longer reach national markets in the towns of el-Fasher, 130 km (82 miles) away, or Tine on the border with Chad, 275 km (170 miles) away.

There are other alternatives, but none have the same national reach and all involve treacherous travel.

Tawila, right on the edge of SLA-AW territory, became the site of a makeshift market. It is on the road to el-Fasher, which has been cut off by the RSF siege and has become home to tens of thousands who have managed to flee the city.

Due to the difficulty of moving production further, there is an oversupply in the market and as a result prices here have fallen.

There are some here who want to buy supplies to try to smuggle products into el-Fasher – an extremely dangerous and life-threatening trade.

Getting goods here has always been a challenge and food can sometimes rot along the way.

“To cover about 12 km, you need a whole day of driving in the mountains and mud,” says Yusif, a fruit seller in Tawila. But now, he says, uncertainty is making things worse.

In Central Darfur, a recent truce between leaders of the Fur ethnic group – dominant here – and Arab nomads has allowed limited trade in some areas.

Markets have reopened in the SLA-AW-controlled town of Nertiti, where Arab women sell yogurt and leather farmers bring fruit and vegetables. But the arrangement is fragile.

“The market only opens once a week. Travel is still dangerous,” says a trader from Nertiti.

“Armed robberies are still happening on the roads, even after the agreement.

Fruit and crops can now also be sold at the market in RSF-controlled Zalingei, the capital of Central Darfur state. But Arab militias allied with the RSF are often accused of harassing or attacking civilians in the area, although the groups deny any wrongdoing.

Every Thursday, which is a market day, the number of checkpoints between Nertiti and Zalingei increases, sometimes reaching more than two dozen. But as more vehicles are on the road during market days, more people take advantage of the opportunity to travel.

The checkpoints, some manned by RSF fighters and others by Arab militias, are sometimes manned by just one armed man in civilian clothes who demands a fee. Drivers will then often try to negotiate while passengers watch silently.

Returning back to the Jebel Marra area, SLA-AW checkpoints guard every road to the mountains and gunmen also demand money.

Bags of contraband were searched, including skin-whitening creams widely used elsewhere in Sudan and confiscated.

Once inside the SLA-AW controlled area, despite the relative peace, there are clear signs of conflict elsewhere in the country.

Trucks full of people fleeing the fighting, especially around el-Fasher, can be seen every day.

Many are sheltering in schools, clinics and other public places, receiving little or no humanitarian aid – aid agencies are struggling to get through all the checkpoints.

In Golo, the de facto capital of SLA-AW territory, a woman who fled el-Fasher described dire conditions. She is now sheltered in a classroom with 25 other newly arrived families.

“We have no income. There is no work, I worked as a nurse and I can farm, but here the land belongs to people who work only for themselves. We don’t know what to do,” said the woman.

As he spoke, sick, elderly people lay on the ground and children screamed from hunger. At least there will be some relief as the food that cannot be taken out of Golo will be available.

This is the Jebel Mara region, a strange world surrounded by war. A world of green mountains and waterfalls. A world of bright, juicy fruits. A world of frightened evacuees.

A fruit seller said he had lost hope in both warring countries.

“We are not part of the war – we just want to sell our oranges.”