A fertile region of Sudan where food causes famine and war

There is a place in Sudan where it is possible to forget that a devastating Civil War is going on.

Dressed in bright colors and wearing plastic sandals, women in the mountains of Jebhelrar barbel Marrain start every morning on donkeys, with children in tow, to tie the fields.

In a climate like the Mediterranean and using fertile soil, they grow nuts, oranges, apples and strawberries – rare crops of the country now facing famine caused by world hunger. Before the conflict, Jebel Marrar Marrar’s organic oranges were heavily eroded from their land.

The mountainous terrain in this part of West Darfur region has wings with green peaks, especially now that it is the rainy season.

All other Sudanese end up in the fortunes of disaster.

Throughout the country, as a result of two and a half years of fighting against crippled agriculture, about 25 million people – half of the population – are facing severe food shortages, including severe malnutrition, according to the UN.

But in the highlands of Jebel Marra, the problem isn’t growing food – it’s producing produce.

“We almost sell them for free and sometimes we get them out of the way [to market]because they are rotten,” said Hafiz Ali, an orange seller in Golo Town, in the middle of the mountains in Central Darfur State.

Insecurity and the poor condition of the roads make transportation almost impossible.

Jebel Marra is the last remaining territory controlled by the Sudan Liberation Army – Abduwahid (SLA-AW). This armed group remains neutral in the current war. It has never signed to deal with the peace related to the authorities in Khartoum going back to 2003 and the conflict in Darfur at that time.

The SLA-AW has controlled how many local people define themselves as liberated areas “for more than twenty years.

Now, surrounded by war on all sides, the region is increasingly isolated.

In the West and North, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and Arab Militias have blocked the main roads. To the south, the positions of the RSF are bombed almost every week by the Sudanese army – these attacks also cost the lives of civilians.

The RSF also controls the eastern areas.

The result is a closed environment where farmers and farmers can no longer access the national markets in the towns of El-Fasher 130km (82 kilometers) away, or the Chadian border, on the Chadian border, 275m kilometers).

There are other ways but they don’t have the same access to the world and they all involve treacherous travel.

Tawila, right on the edge of the sla-aw field, is still a market place. It is on the way to El-Fasher, which has been cut off by the RSF Siege, and has become home to tens of thousands who managed to escape that city.

Due to the difficulty of moving the product anywhere, there is a high in the market and as a result prices here have fallen.

There are others here who want to buy things to try and smuggle produce to El-Fasher – a life-threatening trade.

Getting supplies this far has always been a challenge and food can sometimes rot there.

“To travel about 12km, it takes you a whole day of driving in the mountains and mud,” said you from the raining station. But now, he says, Insecurity makes things worse.

In Central Darfur, where the leaders from the ethnic group appear

Markets have reopened in the city controlled by NETRI – where Arab women sell milk and wool farmers bring fruit and vegetables. But the arrangement is fragile.

“The market only opens once a week. Walking is still dangerous,” said a trader from Nertiti.

“Armed robbery still happens on the streets, even after the agreement.”

Fruits and crops can now be sold in the market through RSF-controlled ZALingei, the capital of Darfur State. But arab miltias allied with the RSF have been repeatedly accused of torturing or attacking civilians in the area, although the groups deny wrongdoing.

Every Thursday, which is market day, the number of checkpoints between Nertiti and Zalingei increases, sometimes reaching more than twenty. But with more cars on the road on market days, more people take the opportunity to walk.

Checkpoints, some marked by RSF sharpshooters and others by Arab Militia, are sometimes manned by one man armed with tyzali, demanding money. Drivers will often try to negotiate as passengers watch in silence.

Going back to Jebel Marra district, SRAs – inspection checks have all patrolled all the roads in the mountains, and armed men demand money.

The bags are searched for contraband, or including skin creams, which are widely used elsewhere in Sudan, are confiscated.

Once inside the area controlled by sla – soon, despite the relative peace, there are clear signs of conflict elsewhere in the country.

Trucks full of people fleeing the war, especially in El-Fasher, can be seen every day.

Many of them find shelter in schools, clinics and other public spaces that receive little other than humanitarian aid – aid agencies strive to fulfill all checkpoints.

In Golo, the de facto capital of the sla-ye-sla plantation, a woman who escaped from El-Fasher, described the difficult conditions. Now he wishes himself in the class with the other 25 families who have just arrived.

“We have no money. There are no jobs to be done, I used to work as a nurse and I know how to farm, but the country here is not only for working people.”

When he spoke, he was sick, old people were lying on the ground and children were crying because of hunger. At least there will be some relief as food that can be taken out of Golo will be available.

This is the region of Jebel Marra, a strange land surrounded by war. A land of green mountains and waterfalls. A world of bright, juicy fruit. A land of terrified miners.

Another fruit trader said he has lost hope in the warring parties.

“We are not part of the war – we just want to sell our oranges.”

More on the war in Sudan:

Go to Bbrcafrica.com With many stories from the African continent.

Follow us on Twitter @Bbcafricaon Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at BbChafrica

BBC Africa Podcasts