Birth, death, escape: Three women’s struggle through Sudan’s war

On April 14, 2023, Yasmine* stepped off the plane and into the arms of her sister in Khartoum, Sudan’s capital.

The Sudanese human rights activist was five months pregnant and living in a nearby country, yet she was happy to be home. She was looking forward to spending some quality time with her parents.

But the next day, her life and her country changed forever.

“I woke up to sounds of very heavy artillery at about 5 or 6am, and it lasted until 7 or 8am,” Yasmine, 31, told Al Jazeera over voice messages from Khartoum, where she still lives.

“I remember rushing to turn on Al Jazeera. They were talking about a heavy conflict.”

The roar of fighter jets and crackle of gunfire she, her brother, sister and 2-year-old niece heard in their top-floor apartment confirmed Yasmine’s worst nightmare. Sudan’s civil war had started and Yasmine was torn between comforting her siblings and telling the world about what was happening.

She recalls having to stop a phone interview with a journalist from the BBC when she heard an army jet overhead.

“I remember screaming so loud in the interview when I saw the plane and we had to hang up,” she said.