Thousands of Hajj pilgrims from around the world have arrived in Saudi Arabia ahead of the 2023 pilgrimage. However, due to the war that erupted in Sudan on April 15, pilgrims from the country must take a longer route to reach Makkah.
Twenty pilgrims have already arrived in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur, and will continue on to Ed Daein, the capital of East Darfur, then to El Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan. After that, they will go to Port Sudan and then to Saudi Arabia.
However, the communication infrastructure has been damaged by ongoing clashes in many parts of Darfur. The crisis we are going through caused communication networks to go out of service. We have been isolated for a whole month and this hindered dozens of people who want to perform Hajj from completing their documents, said Habib Ali, the secretary of the administration of Hajj and Umrah in West Darfur.
Despite the unfortunate events, members of the administration travelled to Chad, where they were able to complete the documents of 20 out of 560 people. The eruption of the war has also caused the Sudan airport to shut down, leading the Civil Aviation Authority to extend the closure to civil aviation.
This situation has complicated the route to Hajj for Sudanese pilgrims. It is unfortunate that they have to take a longer and more challenging journey to fulfill their religious obligation due to the conflict. However, they remain determined to make the pilgrimage despite the obstacles they face.
