MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Since fighting erupted in Sudan almost 18 months ago, it's been hard to get humanitarian aid, let alone press access into the country, which is one of Africa's largest by land area.
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
As the ruling Sudanese army and the paramilitary group called the Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, fight for control of the country, millions of people have been displaced inside and outside of Sudan. And the United Nations says the fighting has put millions of people on the brink of famine.
MARTIN: But with much of the world's attention focused on conflicts elsewhere, the war in Sudan has struggled to get attention for the humanitarian disaster. And that's been made worse by the fact that it's so hard to get in. But NPR correspondent Emmanuel Akinwotu did manage to get in. He's been in Sudan for the past two weeks, and he's with us now from the wartime capital of Port Sudan. Good morning, Emmanuel.
EMMANUEL AKINWOTU, BYLINE: Good morning, Michel.
MARTIN: So, Emmanuel, you've been covering the conflict, and you managed to report from the outskirts of the capital, Khartoum. This is where fighting first broke out. What did you find there?
AKINWOTU: The scale of destruction is just hard to believe. In places, it was almost apocalyptic. We walked through this once iconic market called Souq Omdurman. It was this vibrant place, as vibrant as Times Square, but now it's a ghost town. The storefronts were shattered and broken. People's personal belongings, like their bags and slippers, were just littered out onto the streets. There were even chairs covered in bullet holes set around this small table with a kettle, where people used to drink tea. And there are so many areas like this.
MARTIN: Emmanuel, was there anybody there? Did you meet anybody? And can you tell us about them?
AKINWOTU: I met this 64-year-old man called Muhammad Ker (ph). He was born in Omdurman, and he actually worked in the U.S. for over 10 years, even as a security manager at Dulles Airport just outside of D.C. He showed me his home, built by his father about a hundred years ago, but now it's in ruins.
MUHAMMAD KER: I cannot believe it. You cannot imagine it. I'm just trying just to start from beginning.
AKINWOTU: He told me the RSF looted his home. They took his TV, his air conditioners, his money before they were forced out of the city by the army in May. There are parts of Omdurman that feel more normal, but even there, it's not really normal because of the shelling. Just across the Nile, the RSF control the capital city, Khartoum. And while the army conducts airstrikes there, the RSF are shelling Omdurman constantly.
MARTIN: Emmanuel, that just sounds horrific. And now this fighting in Sudan has caused what is believed to be the worst ongoing humanitarian crisis in the world. What does that look like on the ground? And how are people surviving?
AKINWOTU: Well, the scale of need is just immense. There's - half of the population are acutely hungry. Parts of the country are already experiencing famine. It's the worst displacement crisis in the world. People are just not getting the aid that they need, mainly because of a lack of safe routes. But frankly, even if there were safe routes, the amount of aid still isn't enough.
There's this common feeling from people that the world just doesn't care and that they have to rely on themselves. One example I got to see are these incredible community kitchens, where people are cooking meals for hundreds, sometimes thousands of people, and it's funded from donations from within Sudan and from the diaspora.
MARTIN: Are there any particular people who stuck with you - any story that's just stuck in your mind?
AKINWOTU: I spoke to one doctor called Jamal Mohamed (ph). He works at Al Nao Hospital, which has been shelled constantly and often lacks basic supplies. He said one of the worst moments was when he operated on two children.
JAMAL MOHAMED: I had to amputate them without anesthesia.
AKINWOTU: He feels the country has been totally abandoned.
MOHAMED: They forget about us. It's a forgotten war.
AKINWOTU: And he talked about just how overwhelmed hospitals are.
MARTIN: That's Emmanuel Akinwotu in Sudan. Emmanuel, thank you.
AKINWOTU: Thanks, Michel.
MARTIN: You can hear more of Emmanuel's reporting from Sudan in the coming weeks here on NPR. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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