Port Sudan Makara after a week of attacks

The mass increase in the price of water is only one consequence of a week of air attacks against the Red Sea Port Sudan.

Once regarded as a relatively safe shelter from the devastating civil war in Sudan, Port Sudan is now trying since the days of the bombing of the paramilitary group for the Rapid Support (RSF).

After six days of drone attacks, smoke is still rising by three fuel depots that have been directed. Rescue crews gather around the destroyed sites, but they are struggling to extinguish the fires.

The conflict, which began as a fight between RSF leaders and the army more than two years ago, created one of the world’s tallest humanitarian crises and forced more than 12 million people from its homes.

One of those who fled to Port Sudan is the 26-year-old Mutasim, who did not want his second name, published for safety reasons.

The BBC talk to him after waiting hours for a water salesman to appear.

The vital goods have become scarce. The explosions in fuel landfills have left Port Sudan without the diesel used to supply the pumps that elevate groundwater.

Mutasim told the BBC that while the delivery of water costs him 2000 pounds for a day ($ 3.30; $ 2.50) a week ago, he is now charging five times on that amount.

He also leaves him the seven other members of his family without much cooking, cleaning and bathing water.

“We will not be able to afford it soon,” he said, explaining that he is getting money from buying and selling basic goods on the market.

Water is not the only challenge in Port Sudan.

Daily life returns to its normal, markets and shops are open, but there are crowds of cars outside the city’s gas stations as people are desperately waiting for fuel.

“It can take me five hours to take gasoline,” Mutasim said.

This is a situation that many Sudans have encountered before, but not in this city.

Until last week, Port Sudan was one of the few places in the country that were considered protected by the oldest of the Civil War.

“We came here two years ago from Omdurman,” Mutasim said, referring to the city sitting on the other side of the Nile River from the capital, Khartum.

It costs their family all the savings – $ 3,000 (2250 British pounds) – to adjust to a new place.

“We were forced to leave our home from RSF, so it was a relief to come here. Life was starting to go back to normal.”

“We were thinking of moving because it’s no longer safe, but it’s so expensive – and where to go?”

Port Sudan has been experiencing eclipses over the last two weeks that have been worsened by the last attacks.

“My aunt is over 70 years old, she struggles with warmth and humidity, because at night there is no electricity for the fans,” Mutasim said.

“We can’t sleep.”

Hava Mustafa, a teacher from El-Genena in Darfur, to the west of the country, also sought asylum in Port Sudan.

She has lived with her four children in a shelter for displaced people for more than two years. She said the attacks this week had left her “to live in fear.”

“The drones came to us and we returned to a state of war and lack of safety,” she told the BBC.

“The sounds of drones and air rockets remind me of the first days of the war in El-Gene.”

Hava lives without her husband, who is unable to leave her home because of a worsening security situation. She is now responsible for her family.

“I don’t know where to go if things get worse in Port Sudan. I planned to go to one of the neighboring countries, but it seems that this dream will no longer come true.”

Another person living in the city, Mariam Ata, told the BBC that “life has changed completely.”

“We are struggling to cope,” she said. “Fear is constant.”

As Sudan’s Civil War began in 2023, humanitarian agencies depend on Port Sudan as a portal for assistance because of its port and the only functional international airport in the country.

It has been used by organizations such as the UN World Food Program to provide food assistance.

“Port Sudan is our main humanitarian center,” says Lenny Kinsley, a WFP spokesman for Sudan.

“In March, we had almost 20,000 metric tonnes of food and I would say that more than half of it came through Port Sudan,” she told the BBC.

WFP said there is currently starving in 10 regions of the country, with 17 more risky.

Many help agencies are now concerned that these attacks can block the flow of help, which makes even a worse humanitarian situation.

“I think this will seriously limit the delivery of life-saving foods and medical supplies, which will risk further deterioration of the already critical situation,” Sashtavvat Saraf, director of the Norwegian refugee council, to the BBC.

He added that while agencies would look for other routes in the country, this would be a challenge.

The city is quiet at night.

Before the attacks, people would gather ashore, and some would watch football in local cafes. But the eclipse of electricity left the city in the dark and residents choose to stay home for security reasons.