Civil war turns bread procurement into deadly adventure for Sudanese

Khartoum, July 12 (IANS) Despite over nine months having passed since his eldest son was killed in a missile shelling at a local market in the Al-Salama neighbourhood, south of the Sudanese capital Khartoum, Abdulsalam Suleiman, 50, still feels the pain from the tragedy.

“On the morning of September 22 (2023), I sent my eldest son Mohamed, 16, to a bakery next to us in search of bread, but I didn’t expect that I should never see him again,” Suleiman, who has a family of six, told Xinhua news agency.

“This is one of the most senseless and tragic images of war,” Suleiman said with a trembling voice and tear-filled eyes.

Sudan has been embroiled in a deadly conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces since mid-April 2023, which had claimed at least 16,650 lives, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in an update last month.

Suleiman’s family is an epitome of the millions of Sudanese who have endured and still bear the brunt of the war’s toll.

The scarcity of bread and the dangers in acquiring it signify just one of the many ways the war has affected the daily lives of locals.

As conflict erupted, numerous bakeries in south Khartoum ceased operations, either due to direct bombing or owners being compelled to shut down amidst insecurity, flour and gas shortages, or power interruptions.

“Before the war, there were about seven bakeries in the Al-Salama neighborhood where we live, but now there is only one still operating with weak production capacity,” Suleiman said.

Suleiman described the lives of the residents in the area as “a daily battle” characterized by fear and hunger.

The bakery owners’ days are even tougher.

Abdul-Azim Khalid, a 65-year-old bakery owner in the Al-Salma neighbourhood, said he has been in the bakery business for more than 25 years, and the current war has presented his business with unprecedented challenges.

“Before the war, we used to bake 30 bags of flour per day, each bag producing about 1,200 pieces of bread. … But now on average, we produce about 2,000 pieces of bread a day. In some days, it could be less than 500,” Khalid told Xinhua.

He said the power outage and gas shortage constituted the main obstacles, noting that they had started using the traditional wood-fired ovens, which have a much lower production capacity.

Sarah Al-Fadil relates to Khalid’s experience. The 38-year-old public sector employee has not received any salary since April 2023.

To support herself and her three children after her husband’s passing two years ago, Al-Fadil started a small bread kiosk next to her home.

Because of the shortage of bread flour, Al-Fadil is also unable to make an adequate amount of bread.

“I now make food that does not require much effort, including falafel, beans, and egg sandwiches,” she told Xinhua.

According to the World Food Program, more than half Sudan’s population (nearly 26 million people) are now facing Crisis levels of hunger, and 14 areas have been declared “at risk of famine.”

Sudan also faces the worst displacement crisis in the world. According to the figures released in June by the UN