Khartoum Civil War Sparks Ecocide in Sudan

In April of 2023, two factions of the Sudanese armed forces, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), began attacking each other in the capital city of Khartoum. Within a few months, the battle had become a war of attrition, with each group trying to edge ever closer to victory by attacking natural resources.

As the war has progressed, perhaps in desperation, or perhaps due to a carefully planned strategy, both forces have been destroying environmental resources with their attacks. Their use of stealthy drone warfare, as well as their highly public airstrikes, has been focused on destroying dams, landfills, and farmland. The results are catastrophic. Food and water insecurity has increased, entire neighbourhoods have been destroyed, and pollution is spreading to areas far removed from the scenes of battle. Sudan’s precious wildlife is threatened.

This ecological destruction, or ecocide, is not merely a by-product of the war. It is now the method of fighting.

Airstrikes in Khartoum

The SAF have been increasing their use of drone warfare since the beginning. By striking quickly, deep inside cities, and barely verifying their targets, they keep their enemies (and civilians) in a state of sense of constant fear. They seem to also focus their attacks on areas with already poor infrastructure in an attempt to instil an even greater sense of panic in the population.

In August and October of 2024, the SAF launched drone strikes less than 200 metres from the Soba Water Treatment Plant. This plant includes a large, artificial, open pond for processing industrial waste and sewage. Multiple studies have shown that the plant does not meet international standards. However, it is the only infrastructure that guards against more untreated waste finding its way into the surrounding neighbourhood. According to Dr Ahmed Hassan Alamin, a member of the Sudanese Environmental Conservation Society, treatment plants such as Soba have the essential chlorination and quality control systems for drinking water and, thus, damage to such treatment facilities renders “the water unsafe for consumption and leads to the spread of waterborne diseases”.

The very fact that this important facility is in the “South Belt”, a historically marginalised neighbourhood of Khartoum, means that there will be difficulties with rebuilding and maintaining the plant, leading to the situation worsening over time. This is exactly what the SAF wants.

Moreover, it is virtually impossible to verify if they were in fact striking at armed targets. However, due to the frequency of attacks in this neighbourhood, it is safe to infer that this is an attempt to destroy infrastructure and force their enemies into surrender. Dr Alamin also mentioned that this is not the only water treatment facility that has been attacked and damaged.

While the waste is not yet being dumped directly into the Nile, images posted on X show wreckage and shrapnel from the Shambat Bridge flying into the water. Both the RSF and the SAF have also targeted apartment buildings and hospitals along the river bank. Hospitals, in particular, produce large amounts of toxic waste, around 250 kilograms per day on average, including toxic heavy metals and discarded pharmaceuticals. These hospitals have limited resources for garbage disposal, and thus usually store the medical waste on their premises. The damage is so extensive that some of this hazardous material has probably already dissolved in the waters of the Nile. Four of Khartoum’s hospitals – the Omdurman maternity hospital, the Medical Corps, the Universal Hospital Sudan, and Al Arbaeen Hospital – overlook the river, and all of them have been bombed. Burning high-rise buildings leak soot and other particles into the nearby waters. All these structures also leach microplastics, which are already present in the Nile waters in high quantities and are poisonous to humans and animals. 

The Nile is the only source of water for the people of Khartoum and the whole of Sudan. By striking its banks and building military structures – such as the headquarters of the SAF’s armoured corps – precariously close to the Nile, both the RSF and the SAF are threatening its health. This type of wilful environmental destruction fits the definition of ecocide.

While this form of destruction is mostly being committed by the SAF because of their superior technology for carrying out airstrikes and launching drones, the RSF performs other forms of environmental sabotage.

The fight for the Jebel Aulia Dam

The pollution is being exacerbated by flooding along the banks of the Nile. The floods in Khartoum, which have helped spread the polluted water deep into fragile communities and ecosystems, are being exacerbated by the destruction of the Jebel Aulia Dam, a large structure on the Nile south of Khartoum.

This dam has been the target of frequent attacks. In 2024, the RSF seized the dam from the SAF and closed it during one of the most extreme cases of flooding the country has witnessed. The RSF accused the SAF of repeatedly striking the dam and causing damage, and of targeting the workers. Unfortunately, the dam is very close to an airbase, which means heavy weaponry is being deployed all the time, and no one is taking care not to damage the infrastructure. The strikes have essentially rendered the dam unusable. 

Open-source data shows that both the RSF and the SAF are using fighter jets, artillery, and drone attacks. At one point, one of the armies hit the dam itself, causing a large explosion. At other times, there has been fighting less than 500 metres away from the edges of the dam, putting it at great risk of strikes. Also, cases of both armies harassing workers around the dam have been documented online, including looting their homes after battles and firing tear gas canisters into crowds.

Propaganda is also a tactic. The RSF blames the SAF for poor maintenance, and the SAF blames the RSF for the damage to the dam. However, both sides target the dam for precisely the same purpose: to cause damage to water resources in Sudan. This is clearly apparent because the fighting is not concentrated around the military base further south, but around the dam. In fact, the airbase has remained functional throughout the war. Meanwhile, the dam was closed by the army when it was needed most – at the height of the flood season.

The effects of the damage to the dam are far-reaching. The Jebel Aulia Dam provides fresh water for livestock and agriculture, making it a critical piece of infrastructure for food security. Its reservoir holds about 2.3 billion cubic metres of water, which is critical for flood management. The closing led to an unleashing of flood waters across the Khartoum Province and the rest of the country. The waters washed away farm, houses, and livestock, exacerbating famine and food shortages across the country.

That is not all, however. The war has increased the levels of pollution in the Nile, with the flooding helping to spread the polluted waters across neighbourhoods. After the flooding, the waters remain stagnant, creating reservoirs of toxic water deep inland. The floodwaters also carried with them industrial waste and sewage, spreading it across a wide area. One poignant example of this is the flooding of Aba Island, where the mixture of flood waters, sewage, and garbage from damaged buildings resulted in a deadly cocktail, according to the Sudan Doctors Network. This environmental destruction leads to the spread of diseases like cholera, and to an increased risk of consuming poisoned water, among other health effects.

Down it goes

While the pollution remains stagnant for a long time, it will not remain in the Khartoum area forever. Eventually, it will find its way into the Nile, spreading far and wide. Because the Nile is essentially the only source of clean water for most of Sudan, this pollution will eventually affect the entire country.

One type of waste that has increased during the war is microplastic debris. Microplastics exist in buildings and factories, and they can be highly poisonous to animals and humans when ingested. Also, they can block waterways and drainage systems and increase the effects of corrosion. In a study of the flow of microplastics conducted before the war by the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI), most such pollution originates in Khartoum, although now, due to the shelling up and down the Nile, it may be increasing in other states as well. 

Both the RSF and the SAF are striking targets associated with agriculture, factories, industries and hospitals. Those are also the targets that contain the most microplastics. Although not that much data collection has been done since the beginning of the Sudanese War, a small survey shows that the pollution in the Nile has indeed been increasing.

The survey looked at the toxic materials present in fish downstream of the Jebel Aulia Dam in 2023. It was found that per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) – also known as forever chemicals – were leaking from the dam. A 2008 study undertaken in Kenya had also measured the PFAS in the Nile River. The differences are very significant; in 2008, the concentration of PFAS in tilapia was insignificant, while in 2024, it was about 0.5 micrograms per kilogram of fish. This may seem small, but even trace amounts can lead to long-term health problems.

Moreover, across South Sudan, the amounts of garbage on the banks of the Nile, made up of microplastics washed up from the river, has also been increasing noticeably, although this may not be directly because of the war. However, it does show how quickly this debris can accumulate and the damage it can cause as it seeps into the soil. This issue is getting worse, and as the conflict continues, it is becoming increasingly difficult to manage.

According to the NBI, waste enters the Nile precisely because the waste-management infrastructure – such as garbage collection facilities and landfills – is already inadequate. As the civil war has raged, many of these facilities have been closed or attacked, exacerbating the situation. Many garbage collection services have simply stopped, resulting in dump sites that are left unattended. And as the issues become more apparent, the armies have not let up on their attacks, but rather, have increased their intensity. The attempt is no doubt to damage the entire country, especially the south, where the most vulnerable populations and internally displaced refugees have gone.

Who suffers?

All of this damage has had widespread effects across Sudan. The floods, caused in part by the closing of the dam, displaced over 100,000 people, destroyed over 10,000 homes, killed at least 69 people, and swamped nearly all the farmland in the northern provinces. This is, in truth, only a small part of the damage incurred because the polluted water is spreading diseases like cholera rapidly throughout the country. In fact, preventable diseases and poisonings are the number one cause of death in the country right now. And because the camps have limited healthcare facilities, refugees are the most vulnerable to these diseases.

Wildlife is also at great risk. There are over 720 animal species that make their home in the forested areas along the Nile. Many of the cornerstone species are fish, which form the base of the food chain. “Oxygen depletion [due to the industrial pollution in the Nile] can lead to hypoxic areas where fish cannot survive,” Dr Alamin has warned. “Over time, this leads to an ecological imbalance that could take decades to recover.” This shows how sensitive the ecosystem is to increased amounts of toxins. Not only would Sudan’s fish populations decrease, but so would the many animals (including the endangered Steppe eagle) that migrate to the Nile region every year. Fishing is also a critical industry for the Sudanese people so, overall, the entire ecosystem faces an uncertain future.

Facing constant harassment by the armed forces, conservationists have put their efforts on hold. For example, all the activities of UN Environment Programme in Sudan, including reforestation and sustainable farming, ended in 2020 and have not recommenced.

Today, ecocide is neither illegal in Sudan and nor is it considered a war crime by the International Criminal Court, despite its wide humanitarian impact.