Surviving tomorrow: The communities displaced by conflict in West Darfur

It is a crossroads where the Sahel’s savannahs blend into the swamps of South Sudan and the highlands of Ethiopia. The country’s beauty lies not only in its land, but in its people: diverse, proud, and bound by traditions and strength. Yet beneath this beauty runs a history marked by conflict. For decades, the communities have been fractured by relentless civil wars, including by the ongoing war between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which started in April 2023.  

To shed light on a crisis unfolding far from the cameras and largely absent from media attention, the award-winning Magnum photographer Moises Saman traveled to West Darfur and eastern Chad with Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). Renowned for his ability to document war zones, Saman blends traditional conflict photography with deeply personal storytelling, uplifting the voices of people caught in violence and displacement. 

A major challenge during Saman’s journey was the difficulty accessing areas under RSF control. With most airports closed due to ongoing attacks, he had no choice but to enter Sudan through eastern Chad, the starting point of his photographic reportage. 

Seeking safety in Chad

In June 2023, ethnic cleansing in West Darfur pushed hundreds of thousands of people previously trapped in the city of El Geneina into eastern Chad. The sudden influx put enormous pressure on already stretched resources, with urgent needs for health care, shelter, food, water, and sanitation.

"When I arrived in Ouaddaï province, I was surprised by the number of people living in these makeshift refugee camps so close to the border," Saman explains, "especially in Adré—the camp is literally along the border and just a kilometer away are the areas controlled by the RSF, the forces that these people have fled from." 

To respond to the dramatically increased needs, MSF opened a clinic and built latrines and showers in Adré transit camp. Our teams also set up a field hospital in Aboutengue camp and expanded pediatric and women’s health services, emergency medicine, mental health support, treatment for victims of sexual violence, and nutritional care. These efforts continue to this day, as teams work to meet the ongoing needs of those seeking safety. 

"I remember this very smart young lady I met in Aboutengue,” Saman says. “She worked as a youth leader in the camp. I remember her talking about how she felt like there was no opportunity in Chad and no way to go back to Sudan anytime soon. At that young age, when you're supposed to have your future ahead of you and be excited about life... if she had been in any other place, she could have been anything she wanted to be. I just wish there were something we could do for her."

Sudanese refugees arriving in Chad have left a part of themselves behind that they will likely never recover. Some have lost family members, while others have endured attacks along the way, including sexual violence. All had to flee danger without looking back, holding on to the hope of a safer life. 

Crossing the border into Darfur

After spending several days in Chad meeting many people and hearing their stories, Saman continued his journey to West Darfur.

"As soon as you cross the border and enter Sudan, you immediately feel that you have reached a militarized context," Saman says. "You cross this no man's land and suddenly you're in an RSF-controlled territory with several checkpoints, young men with guns and military vehicles. There were not so many families; it was mostly people on donkey carts carrying boxes of goods, mostly petrol." 

A region at the heart of the conflict

Even prior to the outbreak of the current war, people in West Darfur faced significant challenges and acute humanitarian needs. These struggles are rooted in a long history of conflict. In 2003, the government of Sudan mobilized local Darfuri militias (who have since become the RSF) to fight rebel movements. This resulted in a campaign of terror against civilians in rural areas who were accused of supporting the rebels. More than 250,000 people died and almost 3 million were displaced. MSF intervened to provide medical and nutritional care to the displaced. The war in Darfur lasted until 2020. 

“I kept thinking about Darfur’s history and the ethnically targeted massacres that took place 20 years ago, and how many of those issues remain unresolved today," says Saman. "The region is so fragmented, with many different armed groups still active. It’s not simply the SAF versus the RSF. In Darfur, there are layers of conflict that go back to the earlier conflict, and it’s impossible to escape that. Even though I didn’t cover that conflict in the early 2000s, I was very aware of its legacy, and I carried that history in the back of my mind as I tried to make sense of the dynamics now." 

Since the current civil war began in April 2023, people in El Geneina, the capital of West Darfur, have had extremely limited access to medical care due to fear of violence both outside and within health facilities. Many patients are afraid of being targeted based on their ethnicity or affiliation. 

Despite the situation, MSF's medical staff continued to provide essential care to critical patients in the first week of the conflict. However, after the situation deteriorated significantly in El Geneina, doctors fled their homes for fear of being harmed. The city of El Geneina has been the victim of widespread looting, with private homes, shops, pharmacies, NGOs, the market, and Ministry of Health facilities all targeted.  

MSF supports one of the few hospitals providing essential free medical care in El Geneina and surrounding areas: El Geneina Teaching Hospital. The teams provide maternal and child health care, mental health support, and run a therapeutic feeding center. 

"The work MSF is doing in the hospital—how they’re literally saving lives—is just incredible," says Saman. "Seeing everyone giving their all in a hospital that’s over capacity, with so few resources, and doctors showing up every day … it was truly amazing. People are doing their very best with whatever they have to care for those coming in for treatment." 

After fleeing violence in other parts of central Sudan, many people have found refuge in El Geneina and countless remain without proper housing. Across Darfur, schools once filled with children have become shelters for those uprooted by Sudanese civil war. Displaced families try to make homes out of abandoned classrooms and offices, living among broken furniture and chalk-covered blackboards still bearing grammar lessons from what seems like another lifetime. The poor living conditions are increasingly dangerous with the rainy season sweeping across Darfur, as they have a significant impact on people's health. 

With markets disrupted and resources scarce, the population relies mostly on aid distributions to meet their basic needs. MSF distributes essential items for in addition to providing medical care. 

Mothers and children are at high risk

As in many conflict situations, women and children are the most vulnerable. This is particularly true in El Geneina, where maternal and child mortality rates are alarmingly high. With many health facilities nonfunctional, women are forced to deliver in unsanitary conditions and sometimes without skilled care. Pregnant women face multiple barriers such as financial constraints and limited transportation. Without urgent action to expand maternal health services, mothers and newborns remain at extreme risk amid ongoing displacement.

"What struck me most during the time I spent in the hospital was the difficulty for women to access proper health care, especially pregnant women and those with small children,” says Saman. “Many had to travel long distances just to reach the hospital, and too often they arrived too late. In the few days I was there, I witnessed at least two stillbirths, completely preventable, but made inevitable by the difficulties of accessing care in the midst of war." 

The situation further deteriorated in January 2025 after the US government announced the suspension of foreign aid. As a result, MSF lost key international partners who had been working to rehabilitate and equip mother and child health facilities and support their operating costs in West Darfur.

Faced with the collapse of the original partnerships, MSF teams urgently reassessed options and by March 2025, the team identified the Sudanese Family Planning Association, a national local NGO offering meaningful support to the Ministry of Health services, while preserving MSF’s ability to focus on complicated deliveries. This adaptation reflects a broader shift in the face of today’s shrinking humanitarian funding landscape in Sudan. 

Forgotten areas

About 93 miles south of El Geneina lies the town of Foro Baranga, in a region that was already isolated and had poor access to health care well before the outbreak of the ongoing war. Under normal conditions, the drive to Foro Baranga takes around two and a half hours, but during the rainy season, it can take up to a week for MSF teams to reach the area. Saman was unable to travel there and capture the realities of the communities as it was the height of the rainy season.

Though the area is currently stable and under the RSF control, signs of past violence are still evident. Local leaders emphasize the urgent needs for food and health care for internally displaced people and returnees from Chad. 

The MSF-supported facility hospital in Foro Boranga provides a cholera treatment center, screenings for malnutrition, an outpatient and inpatient therapeutic feeding center, emergency services, routine vaccinations, malaria and measles consultations, and health promotion sessions. The water and sanitation situation remains critical, with residents relying on unprotected wells and lacking adequate sanitation, heightening the risk of cholera. 

A crisis that needs the world’s attention

"I always try to approach a photographic assignment with fresh eyes,” says Saman. “Even after years of doing this work, it’s important to go in with the same level of energy, openness, and without too many assumptions. The context in West Darfur was really eye-opening and it brought home the scale of the human suffering this war is causing. I've been to other areas of Sudan since the war has started, but this experience in West Darfur really was the most immediate and the most clear in terms of understanding the extent of the tragedy."

"I feel that what’s happening in Sudan needs the world’s attention,” Saman adds. “There’s so much talk about other conflicts and humanitarian crisis happening right now, and this one sometimes gets overshadowed. But there are so many civilians suffering, and I just wish more people were paying attention. I think that the work that MSF is doing is great and I hope that my work contributes to keeping the focus on this conflict thought my pictures."