Introduction
The ongoing armed conflict in Sudan has led to an expansion of the phenomenon of missing and disappeared persons in conflict zones, particularly in the Darfur region. Hundreds of families have lost contact with their loved ones during military operations or while trying to flee combat areas. In many cases, these families live between hope and despair, without knowing the fate of their loved ones, the entity that might be detaining them, or the circumstances surrounding their disappearance.

In this report, the Darfur Victims Support Organization documents the case of citizen El-Tahir Mohamed Hassan El-Mahdi, whose family lost contact with him in El-Fasher City in October 2025, and whose fate remains unknown as of the date of preparing this report. The report is based on an interview conducted by the organization with his wife, Huda Abdullah Habib, who recounted the details of his disappearance and the resulting humanitarian and economic suffering for the family.

Facts

The witness, Huda Abdullah Habib, born in 1998 in Nertiti Locality, Central Darfur State, a housewife, married, and mother of three children, reported that her husband, El-Tahir Mohamed Hassan El-Mahdi, aged forty, worked as an auto mechanic in El-Fasher City, North Darfur State.

According to her testimony, the family was forced to displace from the Al-Thawra South neighborhood in El-Fasher City due to the deteriorating security situation and ongoing military operations. They moved on June 1, 2025, to Garni village, then to the Korma administrative unit, before temporarily settling in Golo Locality, Central Darfur State, on June 24, 2025.

The witness explained that her husband remained in El-Fasher City for some time to finalize some obligations related to his work, and he communicated with her by phone intermittently.

She added that on October 20, 2025, her husband made his last phone call to her, informing her that he intended to leave El-Fasher City on Saturday evening due to the worsening security conditions and the difficulty of remaining inside the city.

However, the family lost contact with him completely from that date onward and was unable to obtain any confirmed information regarding his whereabouts or fate, despite attempts to search and inquire about him through acquaintances and relatives.

The witness confirms that the last available information indicates that her husband left his home in the Al-Thawra South neighborhood heading toward the Grand Market in El-Fasher City before contact was permanently cut off. The family refers to October 26, 2025, as the date of his loss.

As of the date of preparing this report, the family remains unaware of whether he was arrested, detained, injured, or killed during the events witnessed by the city, and they have not received any official or unofficial information clarifying his fate.

Humanitarian Impact

The disappearance of El-Tahir Mohamed Hassan El-Mahdi has left profound humanitarian, social, and economic impacts on his family.

His wife, a mother of three children, has become solely responsible for supporting the family and caring for the children in the absence of the primary breadwinner, while the family lives in harsh displacement conditions within Golo Locality, Central Darfur State.

The witness reported that the family has not received any humanitarian aid since their displacement and suffers from a severe shortage of basic needs, including food, health services, and children’s supplies, which has compounded their daily suffering.

Furthermore, the continued uncertainty surrounding the husband’s fate has caused significant psychological distress to the family members, who live in a constant state of anxiety and doubt in the absence of any information regarding his location or status.

Legal Assessment

This case raises serious concerns regarding the situation of missing persons during the armed conflict in Sudan, as well as the necessity of taking effective measures to reveal their fate and guarantee their families’ right to know the truth.

International Humanitarian Law obligates parties to the conflict to take all possible measures to search for missing persons, provide information regarding their fate to their families, and protect civilians from enforced disappearance or incommunicado detention.

Moreover, the continued lack of information about the fate of El-Tahir Mohamed Hassan El-Mahdi exacerbates his family’s suffering and leaves them vulnerable to multiple violations, including the deprivation of social and economic protection, and legal uncertainty regarding his status.

The organization considers that revealing the fate of the missing constitutes a legal and humanitarian obligation, as well as an essential step toward justice, accountability, and redress.

Recommendations

The Darfur Victims Support Organization calls for:

• Opening an urgent and independent investigation to reveal the fate of citizen El-Tahir Mohamed Hassan El-Mahdi and determine his whereabouts if he is still alive, or clarify the circumstances of his disappearance if he was subjected to any violation.
• Demanding all parties to the conflict to cooperate in revealing the fate of missing persons and enabling their families to obtain information regarding them.
• Calling upon the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and specialized humanitarian mechanisms to support search efforts for missing persons in Darfur.
• Providing urgent humanitarian protection and support to the family of the missing person, and ensuring they receive basic assistance amidst the displacement conditions.
• Establishing an independent national mechanism to document cases of missing and disappeared persons during the conflict, guaranteeing the families’ right to know the truth, and ensuring that those responsible for any cases of enforced disappearance do not escape accountability.

Conclusion

The case of El-Tahir Mohamed Hassan El-Mahdi represents one of hundreds of cases that embody the humanitarian tragedy of missing persons in Sudan, where the impact of disappearance is not limited to the missing person alone, but extends to affect their family, who live in a permanent state of anxiety and uncertainty, deprived of knowing the truth or obtaining any information regarding the fate of their relative.
The Darfur Victims Advocacy Organization affirms that revealing the fate of missing persons, guaranteeing their families’ right to know the truth, and providing them with humanitarian support are legal and moral obligations that must not be overlooked, forming an essential part of any path toward achieving justice and sustainable peace in Sudan.