For 500 days, 260,000 people have been trapped by the paramilitary RSF. While political progress stalls, those who attempt escape are killed and those who remain inside are starving. Experts believe the city will soon fall and the endgame has begun
N
ot unreasonably, Mariam Abdelghaffa had imagined her life as a grandmother would be somewhat different. As it was, on the morning of 11 August, she found herself bent double in a trench, awaiting the next onslaught.
It arrived after dawn. She aimed her ancient AK-47 at the pickup trucks racing towards her. Rockets screeched overhead. Suicide drones the size of light aircraft loomed above. Shells rained down.
A nearby row of mud-brick homes vanished. The blasts came closer. Too close. Abdelghaffa was blown backwards. Her neck was wet with blood.
