'I can't afford to save both twins': Sudan's war left one mother with an impossible choice

2 hours ago Share Save Nawal Al-Maghafi Senior international investigations correspondent, Khartoum and Scarlett Barter BBC World Service, Khartoum Share Save

Touma's life and family have been devastated by Sudan's civil war

Warning: This piece contains details that some readers may find distressing Touma hasn't eaten in days. She sits silently, her eyes glassy as she stares aimlessly across the hospital ward. In her arms, motionless and severely malnourished, lies her three-year-old daughter, Masajed. Touma seems numb to the cries of the other young children around her. "I wish she would cry," the 25-year-old mother tells us , looking at her daughter. "She hasn't cried in days." Bashaer Hospital is one of the last functioning hospitals in Sudan's capital, Khartoum, devastated by the civil war which has been raging since April 2023. Many have travelled hours to get here for specialist care. The malnutrition ward is filled with children who are too weak to fight disease, their mothers by their bedside, helpless. Cries here can't be soothed and each one cuts deep. Touma and her family were forced to flee after fighting between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) reached their home about 200km (125 miles) south-west of Khartoum. "[The RSF] took everything we owned - our money and our livestock - straight out of our hands," she says.