Stuck at a Catholic mission sheltering dozens of women and children affected by the raging war on the streets of Khartoum, Father Jacob Thelekkadan tore new holes in his belt as food supplies ran low and his weight swelled.
About 80 people are sheltering inside the Dar Mariam Mission, a Catholic church and school compound in Khartoum’s al-Shajara district, caught in crossfire between Sudan’s army and paramilitary forces. Rapid Support Force The pastor and seven other people at the mission provided this information, according to (RSF).
The roof of the main building has been damaged by shells, and parts of the nuns’ quarters have been set on fire. Holes caused by stray bullets are visible on the walls of the mission.
Since food has become scarce, the nuns have boiled tree leaves for the children to eat and many adults have skipped meals.
An attempt by the Red Cross to rescue them in December ended with two people killed and seven others injured, including three charity workers, when gunmen opened fire on the convoy, forcing it to turn back before it could reach the mission. The warring sides blamed each other for the attack.
Thelekkadan said she and the nuns had rejected the Army’s offer to move permanently across the river, leaving behind their families.
“When the roads are safe, we will be the first to leave, but with the people,” said Thelekkadan, a 69-year-old Indian national.
Many residents of the Sudanese capital fled after the conflict began in April last year, which also affected Khartoum and its Nile sister cities Bahrain and Omdurman, and soon spread to other parts of the country.
At the start of the war, the RSF seized strategic sites and residential areas in Khartoum, placing snipers on high-rise buildings. The army, lacking effective ground forces, responded with heavy artillery and air strikes.
The Dar Maryam mission became a safe haven for those who did not have the money to escape or had no place to go.
Photos shared with Reuters by Thelekkadan showed parts of the mission’s buildings littered with rubble, walls badly damaged by bullets or shelling, and rooms and corridors blackened by smoke.
“Our food situation has become very bad. We are all very weak,” Thelekkadan said.
Acute hunger has spread across the areas worst affected by the conflict in Sudan, prompting famine warnings for Khartoum and other regions.
10 million displaced
In June last year, a few families took refuge in the mission, hoping its concrete roof would provide them protection. But the area soon became isolated as the RSF pressed on to capture the strategic Armoured Corps camp about 2 kilometres away, one of several military bases it was targeting, Thelekkadan said.
The Al-Shajara district has been heavily attacked by the RSF. People living nearby who have the money to do so have registered with the army to cross the Nile; some have been waiting for months.
But Thelekkadan said the mission considered evacuation by boat across the White Nile at night too risky for the children.
Sudan’s war has created the world’s largest internal displacement crisis, forcing nearly 10 million people to seek refuge inside or outside the country, according to the International Organisation for Migration.
Reuters has documented how the fighting has led to ethnic cleansing and deadly famine in the western region of Darfur.
The war has also caused unprecedented destruction in the capital, which was spared from modern Sudan’s previous conflicts. Aid workers say the two warring factions have hindered the delivery of humanitarian relief, leaving civilians to rely on donations provided by neighbourhood volunteer groups.
An RSF media official said the paramilitary force had attempted to allow the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to evacuate families, but the army thwarted the attempt and was using them as human shields.
The Army spokesperson said these families were trapped in the war, and the Armoured Corps troops have performed their duty by protecting and assisting them, in line with the Army’s practice in other conflict-affected areas.
According to Thelekkadan, the numbers have fluctuated, but about 30 women have been living at the mission since March, along with 50 children aged 2-15. His details were confirmed by two nuns, an administrator and four women who took refuge at the mission, two other priests who have been in contact with Dar Maryam, and an army intelligence officer responsible for churches in Khartoum.
The mission’s residents are mostly Christian refugees from South Sudan and Ethiopia who have set up tents made of plastic sheets around the compound’s buildings, which include a church, a school and a residence.
When fighting breaks out nearby, they hide inside the house. Some poor Sudanese Muslim families have also taken temporary refuge in the mission.
Awaiting clearance
The November bombing destroyed the image of the Virgin Mary at the entrance to the complex, damaged the second floor of the main building and set the roof on fire. Several people were slightly injured.
RSF snipers were watching the entrance to Dar Mariam. Thelekkadan said a boy from the neighborhood was killed when mortar shrapnel struck him in the head as he helped make an exit to the rear of the compound to avoid sniper fire.
One of the nuns, Sister Miriam, told Reuters in a video call that the mission’s residents were trying to escape “a lot of firing and bombing”.
“We have got used to it and we are not afraid. God is protecting us, but we are waiting for evacuation,” he said.
Thelekkadan and the nuns turned their safest room into a shelter for the children to protect them from the shootings. They attempted to distract the children from the violence happening around them, creating a space for cycling in the yard and encouraging them to play video games.
“We did not let them feel that they were in jail,” Thelekkadan said.
In early January the mission again came under fire and rooms housing the nuns were set on fire.
Food has been a challenge. By September, cash was running out, and the clashes made it nearly impossible to collect supplies from local markets.
Children often got small amounts of porridge, lentils and beans. But the stocks ran low.
Thelekkadan said that since February, troops stationed at the armoured corps camp have airlifted some food supplies to Dar Mariam, including sugar and fuel for generators used to pump water from wells.
The military also provided a Starlink connection, so those at the mission could use their phones again. They also sent the pastor and an administrator twice to Port Sudan, the Red Sea city where the military and government offices have relocated, to meet with church officials and collect some cash and supplies.
Another nun, Sister Celestine, said she still feels scared whenever there is bombing in the area.
“I want to get out of here,” she said. “I want to get out and write a book about what happened.”
The fighting shows no signs of abating.
“The last four days have been very painful for the people of Dar Maryam and the surrounding areas, as the incidents of explosions, bombings, shootings etc. have become very intense and frequent!” Thelekkadan said in a message on June 19. “Please keep praying for us.”
About 80 people are sheltering inside the Dar Mariam Mission, a Catholic church and school compound in Khartoum’s al-Shajara district, caught in crossfire between Sudan’s army and paramilitary forces. Rapid Support Force The pastor and seven other people at the mission provided this information, according to (RSF).
The roof of the main building has been damaged by shells, and parts of the nuns’ quarters have been set on fire. Holes caused by stray bullets are visible on the walls of the mission.
Since food has become scarce, the nuns have boiled tree leaves for the children to eat and many adults have skipped meals.
An attempt by the Red Cross to rescue them in December ended with two people killed and seven others injured, including three charity workers, when gunmen opened fire on the convoy, forcing it to turn back before it could reach the mission. The warring sides blamed each other for the attack.
Thelekkadan said she and the nuns had rejected the Army’s offer to move permanently across the river, leaving behind their families.
“When the roads are safe, we will be the first to leave, but with the people,” said Thelekkadan, a 69-year-old Indian national.
Many residents of the Sudanese capital fled after the conflict began in April last year, which also affected Khartoum and its Nile sister cities Bahrain and Omdurman, and soon spread to other parts of the country.
At the start of the war, the RSF seized strategic sites and residential areas in Khartoum, placing snipers on high-rise buildings. The army, lacking effective ground forces, responded with heavy artillery and air strikes.
The Dar Maryam mission became a safe haven for those who did not have the money to escape or had no place to go.
Photos shared with Reuters by Thelekkadan showed parts of the mission’s buildings littered with rubble, walls badly damaged by bullets or shelling, and rooms and corridors blackened by smoke.
“Our food situation has become very bad. We are all very weak,” Thelekkadan said.
Acute hunger has spread across the areas worst affected by the conflict in Sudan, prompting famine warnings for Khartoum and other regions.
10 million displaced
In June last year, a few families took refuge in the mission, hoping its concrete roof would provide them protection. But the area soon became isolated as the RSF pressed on to capture the strategic Armoured Corps camp about 2 kilometres away, one of several military bases it was targeting, Thelekkadan said.
The Al-Shajara district has been heavily attacked by the RSF. People living nearby who have the money to do so have registered with the army to cross the Nile; some have been waiting for months.
But Thelekkadan said the mission considered evacuation by boat across the White Nile at night too risky for the children.
Sudan’s war has created the world’s largest internal displacement crisis, forcing nearly 10 million people to seek refuge inside or outside the country, according to the International Organisation for Migration.
Reuters has documented how the fighting has led to ethnic cleansing and deadly famine in the western region of Darfur.
The war has also caused unprecedented destruction in the capital, which was spared from modern Sudan’s previous conflicts. Aid workers say the two warring factions have hindered the delivery of humanitarian relief, leaving civilians to rely on donations provided by neighbourhood volunteer groups.
An RSF media official said the paramilitary force had attempted to allow the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to evacuate families, but the army thwarted the attempt and was using them as human shields.
The Army spokesperson said these families were trapped in the war, and the Armoured Corps troops have performed their duty by protecting and assisting them, in line with the Army’s practice in other conflict-affected areas.
According to Thelekkadan, the numbers have fluctuated, but about 30 women have been living at the mission since March, along with 50 children aged 2-15. His details were confirmed by two nuns, an administrator and four women who took refuge at the mission, two other priests who have been in contact with Dar Maryam, and an army intelligence officer responsible for churches in Khartoum.
The mission’s residents are mostly Christian refugees from South Sudan and Ethiopia who have set up tents made of plastic sheets around the compound’s buildings, which include a church, a school and a residence.
When fighting breaks out nearby, they hide inside the house. Some poor Sudanese Muslim families have also taken temporary refuge in the mission.
Awaiting clearance
The November bombing destroyed the image of the Virgin Mary at the entrance to the complex, damaged the second floor of the main building and set the roof on fire. Several people were slightly injured.
RSF snipers were watching the entrance to Dar Mariam. Thelekkadan said a boy from the neighborhood was killed when mortar shrapnel struck him in the head as he helped make an exit to the rear of the compound to avoid sniper fire.
One of the nuns, Sister Miriam, told Reuters in a video call that the mission’s residents were trying to escape “a lot of firing and bombing”.
“We have got used to it and we are not afraid. God is protecting us, but we are waiting for evacuation,” he said.
Thelekkadan and the nuns turned their safest room into a shelter for the children to protect them from the shootings. They attempted to distract the children from the violence happening around them, creating a space for cycling in the yard and encouraging them to play video games.
“We did not let them feel that they were in jail,” Thelekkadan said.
In early January the mission again came under fire and rooms housing the nuns were set on fire.
Food has been a challenge. By September, cash was running out, and the clashes made it nearly impossible to collect supplies from local markets.
Children often got small amounts of porridge, lentils and beans. But the stocks ran low.
Thelekkadan said that since February, troops stationed at the armoured corps camp have airlifted some food supplies to Dar Mariam, including sugar and fuel for generators used to pump water from wells.
The military also provided a Starlink connection, so those at the mission could use their phones again. They also sent the pastor and an administrator twice to Port Sudan, the Red Sea city where the military and government offices have relocated, to meet with church officials and collect some cash and supplies.
Another nun, Sister Celestine, said she still feels scared whenever there is bombing in the area.
“I want to get out of here,” she said. “I want to get out and write a book about what happened.”
The fighting shows no signs of abating.
“The last four days have been very painful for the people of Dar Maryam and the surrounding areas, as the incidents of explosions, bombings, shootings etc. have become very intense and frequent!” Thelekkadan said in a message on June 19. “Please keep praying for us.”
