In a grim reflection of Sudan’s ongoing civil war, authorities in the capital have confirmed the discovery of at least 117 new mass graves across Khartoum, as fighting between government forces and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) enters its 14th month.
A senior official from Khartoum State, speaking on condition of anonymity, revealed that bodies have been buried in informal locations, including homes, streets, and makeshift burial pits, due to the collapse of normal burial procedures and overwhelmed cemeteries.
The brutal urban warfare that began in April 2023 has devastated the capital’s tri-city area—Khartoum, Omdurman, and Bahri—leaving thousands dead and triggering what observers call one of the worst humanitarian crises in the region’s recent history.
Death toll estimates vary widely. While some humanitarian assessments place the number of war-related deaths at 20,000, others suggest it could be as high as 130,000. Additional reports from the state health ministry indicate that around 3,000 civilians have died from disease and health complications in recent months, exacerbated by a crippled healthcare system.
Earlier this year, local authorities began exhuming bodies from street graves in Omdurman, reinterring them in official cemeteries. The remains of soldiers from both the Sudanese Armed Forces and RSF were reportedly among the dead.
An official involved in the burial effort noted that mass graves vary in size, some holding just a handful of bodies, others dozens. The widespread nature of the graves underlines the difficulty in tracking the full scale of loss in a conflict increasingly marked by chaos, impunity, and impassable frontlines.
The war has not only claimed lives but displaced millions within Sudan and forced hundreds of thousands to flee into neighboring countries such as Chad, Egypt, and South Sudan.
Human rights groups continue to raise concerns over war crimes and crimes against humanity, particularly in urban centers where fighting has turned civilian districts into frontlines.
As international mediators struggle to secure a durable ceasefire, local residents and aid workers describe a capital suffocating under the weight of death, displacement, and disease.