Sarah had survived famine, multiple wars and years of displacement in Sudan's Zamzam camp and never considered fleeing, until a paramilitary attack turned the site into a "killing field." Last week, shelling and gunfire shook the streets as the Rapid Support Forces, at war with the army for nearly two years, stormed the famine-stricken camp in the Darfur region. "Bombs were falling on houses.
There were bodies on the street.
There was no way we could stay," the 22-year-old literature student told AFP after arriving in the town of Tawila, around 60 kilometres (37 miles) west of Zamzam.
In the small, hunger-ridden town, cut off from nearly all humanitarian and media access, an AFP journalist who had exclusive access met some of the hundreds of families seeking safety. "In the middle of the night, we took the children and our grandmothers and started walking," Sarah said of her family of 10, requesting anonymity for fear of retribution.It took them three terrifying days to reach Tawila on foot. "People were robbed and attacked on the road.
