Alternative cemeteries in Khartoum Bahri squares and streets raise residents’ concerns

Residents returning to Khartoum Bahri, despite their small number, face a new reality unfamiliar to them. Some squares and fields within the city’s neighborhoods have been transformed into alternative cemeteries throughout the war.

A tour by Sudan Tribune monitored a number of cemeteries in the Shambat neighborhood, as some relatives of the deceased sought to transfer the remains to the city’s public cemeteries. At the same time, they struggled to return to normal life due to the lack of services.

Residents, who had not left their homes throughout the war, were forced to bury their dead within their neighborhoods, amid ongoing military operations and restrictions imposed on civilian movement by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia at the time.

Volunteer Yagoub Ahmed reported that residents had no choice but to bury their dead in the nearest location, avoiding long journeys for fear of ongoing shelling or movement restrictions within the city.

The Civil Defense Administration removed a number of bodies after residents reported the incident, but some remain inside homes or on the neighborhood’s internal roads.

Sudan Tribune observed the decomposing body of a militia element inside one of the homes, indicating another challenge, with the possibility of more bodies being scattered in the open air within the remaining abandoned homes.