At 10:30 am on a late February, on a crowded street in Omdurman, Sudan’s second-largest city, Namareq Abdallah and her sister were walking home from the bustling Sabereen market, their bags heavy with groceries, when two armed men in army uniforms pulled up on a motorcycle. The men demanded they hand over their handbags — containing their phones and cash — which they then snatched and sped away.
Despite the many witnesses, no one intervened. The sisters didn’t resist either.
“We were too scared they’d shoot us,” Namareq recalls.
A deteriorating humanitarian and economic situation in Sudan, on the back of its ongoing civil war, has created one of the world’s worst crises.
More than 30 million people now require assistance — the highest number ever recorded, according to the UN’s humanitarian office, OCHA.
This collapse has fueled a surge in robberies and violent crime, as law and order disintegrate. Despite recent gains by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) in capturing territories it lost earlier in the two-year conflict, theft and robberies are still rampant.
Sudan’s civil war began as a power struggle between the SAF, led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), commanded by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti. The war has since spread across the country, killing thousands of civilians and displacing nearly 12 million people, of whom roughly 9 million are internally displaced according to UN estimates, which also describes this as one of the world’s largest internal displacement crises.
Security has crumbled, and economic hardship has worsened, leaving gangs and militias to roam freely, looting homes, businesses, and even humanitarian aid convoys. For many, staying safe means surrendering their belongings rather than risking their lives.
Although some Sudanese welcomed recent SAF victories — regaining control over parts of Khartoum and forcing the RSF from strategic locations — crime continues.
In late March, unidentified assailants looted Al-Bashaer Hospital, a vital facility in southern Khartoum, after RSF forces had been driven out.
Amid absent law and order in regions recaptured by the army, gangsters and criminals continue their looting, unaffected by the significantly changing military developments.
Nowhere is safe
Having been displaced more than once by the conflict, 28-year-old Namareq has experienced insecurity in areas under both warring sides. In August 2023, as fighting intensified in her Khartoum neighbourhood, she fled to Wad Madani, the capital of Al Jazirah state, 180 kilometres south of Khartoum.
But when the RSF seized Wad Madani in December 2023, she decided to return to Khartoum, hoping home would be safer. Instead, she found the situation had worsened.
By February 2024, airstrikes and artillery shelling escalated in southern Khartoum as the Sudanese army fought to reclaim the area. RSF fighters, retreating toward Darfur and Kordofan, raided markets and homes, looting whatever they could before withdrawing.
Fearing for her safety, Namareq moved again, this time to Karari, an SAF-controlled locality in Omdurman. But even there, she and her sister were robbed in broad daylight.
Omar Ibrahim Henry, a volunteer with an emergency response group in South Khartoum, describes the situation as “catastrophic.” Armed robberies and kidnappings have become routine.
“Citizens living south of the belt are forced to stay there, relying on charity kitchens for their daily sustenance — often surviving on one meal a day,” Henry told The New Arab.
“Yet, it’s this state of destitution that is also causing frequent raids on homes and looting of household supplies, with militias and gangs targeting families’ wheat flour, rice, and lentils.”
According to emergency response groups in neighbourhoods retaken by the army in recent weeks, such as the Kafouri neighbourhood in Bahri locality and the New Hilla neighbourhood in western Khartoum, residents have accused army personnel of looting their homes after they were evacuated to safe areas.
These residents say they’ve later found their belongings, including washing machines, refrigerators, and household furniture, for sale in the stolen goods markets of Souk Sabreen in Omdurman.
Army and police officials refused to comment when asked by The New Arab for comments on the allegations.
An economy in freefall
The rise in crime isn’t just about lawlessness — it’s driven by economic collapse, according to human rights defenders. With supply chains disrupted and prices soaring, basic necessities are out of reach for many.
In RSF-controlled areas, a kilo of sugar costs 5,000 Sudanese pounds (SDG) — about $2 at the current parallel-market exchange rate of 2,500 SDG per US dollar. Lentils are 6,000 SDG per kilo, cooking oil reaches 7,400 SDG per litre, and beef costs 17,000 SDG per kilo. Even onions have become a luxury, occasionally disappearing from markets altogether.
Meanwhile, in SAF-controlled areas such as parts of Bahri and Omdurman, prices are slightly lower due to the army’s control over supply routes in the north and east, as well as the resumption of some agricultural production.
Many families now rely solely on remittances from relatives abroad.
“Salaries for government workers in RSF-controlled zones have been halted since the war started,” said Mohamed Jumaa, a government employee.
The collapse of public transportation has made daily life even harder. Tuk-tuk rickshaw drivers, frequently targeted by armed thieves, have stopped working, leaving residents with few options besides donkey carts.
Hospitals, like Yarmouk Voluntary Health Centre, south of Khartoum, which relies on volunteer medical staff, were also robbed on February 20, 2025, exacerbating the challenges it faces in providing free medical services. The ongoing looting has also led to the closure of most pharmacies, making it difficult to obtain medication.
Paying for protection, robbed anyway
For business owners, the crisis is twofold — they are losing customers who can no longer afford goods while facing theft from those who no longer care about paying.
Mubarak Abkar, a food vendor in El Kalakla Laffa market in South Khartoum, relies on RSF-affiliated traders smuggling goods from South Sudan and Chad, as well as suppliers in SAF-controlled areas.
To protect his business, Mubarak pays 2,000 SDG daily to the RSF. Yet, he has been robbed five times since the war began.
“My trade was somewhat stable before the army advanced on Khartoum, but after the RSF withdrew, looting escalated,” he said.
In mid-March, after the army forced RSF militants to retreat from parts of the capital, Mubarak’s shop was looted in the worst attack yet, costing him 1.5 million SDG ($600) in goods.
Authorities claim action, but crime persists
For many Sudanese, reporting crimes to the police has become futile. Namareq never reported her attack.
“The police don’t do anything,” she said. “I don’t trust them anymore.”
Mubarak and other traders also refrain from filing reports. While police stations remain open, they serve little purpose. Response committees in Karari say officers only document crimes but do not intervene.
However, Sudanese police insist they are taking action.
Brigadier General Fath al-Rahman al-Toum, a police spokesperson, told TNA that joint security patrols have been deployed and over 90,000 crime reports filed nationwide throughout the conflict.
“Patrols are securing neighbourhoods, police stations are operating, and we are coordinating with the Public Prosecution to investigate crimes, identify suspects, arrest them, and bring them to justice,” al-Toum said.
He added that police, intelligence services, and the SAF have launched a coordinated effort to restore order, including a new electronic reporting platform to help citizens document stolen property.
But for residents, these efforts mean little as crime continues unchecked. The Ministry of Interior had repeatedly posted about dismantling the stolen items market, which kept reemerging.
This prompted some to call for community-led solutions.
“Until the authorities restore order — whether in security or the economy — communities and civil society groups need to step up,” said lawyer and human rights advocate Abdul Basit Al-Hajj. “We need local initiatives to protect neighbourhoods, coordinate with authorities, and provide urgent economic support to those in need.”
For now, Sudanese civilians are left to fend for themselves.
Namareq, like most women, has adjusted to the grim reality.
“I no longer go to the market alone. I always go with at least four other women, hoping that makes us less of a target,” she said. “But even in groups, there are no guarantees.”
Eisa Dafalla is a Sudanese journalist focusing on Darfur’s coverage
This piece was published in collaboration with Egab
