They escaped war. Now, they’re fighting for Sudan from Saskatchewan

Moubarak Bokhit Ali's memories of his home country of Sudan are punctuated by flashes of violence.

"I was born into war," Ali, now in Regina, told CBC with the help of a translator.

Born in the state of North Darfur, he says he's now grateful to be safe in Canada, thousands of kilometres away, but the violence and loss he saw are never far from his thoughts.

"Our life was a dark life," he said.

Ali was five years old when the war in Darfur broke out in 2003, a brutal campaign between rebel groups and the government that killed thousands and caused mass displacement.

The International Criminal Court later sought charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity against several Sudanese officials connected with that conflict.

Ali's family fled into neighbouring Chad as refugees. There, life was reduced to seeking the basics: food, shelter and the hope that peace might one day feel normal.

"I started to feel, why [was I] in that place?" he said. "Why didn't I have absolute freedom to live like a human being in a free country?"

For years, education was Ali's hope. He eventually returned to his home country to go to university in Khartoum. But everything changed when another civil war broke out in April 2023.

Sudan's armed forces are now fighting a paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces, or RSF. The United Nations has said it is among the world's largest ongoing humanitarian crises, marked by mass displacement, hunger and widespread atrocities.

"We woke up, and we found that the world had turned into destruction and war," he said.

Ali was just one semester away from finishing his education when the RSF took control of Khartoum. Within days, the city was engulfed in violence, with shells shaking his neighbourhood and neighbours being killed in their homes.

"These aren't people who wanted to govern Sudan," he said. "These people wanted to destroy Sudan."

Ali's mother pushed him to give up his dream of finishing school and flee his home country. His escape was a blur of RSF checkpoints, demands for bribes and threats of violence, he says.

"They started hitting me, saying, ‘You are a criminal,'" he said. "They took my money and they only left my phone."

He eventually made it to his uncle's house in El Fasher, Sudan, but that too became unsafe as the RSF seized control.

Three weeks after his arrival, his uncle pushed him to keep moving.

Ali made it to a refugee camp in Chad, where he learned four of his relatives had died, including his uncle.

"May God have mercy on him," Ali said. "Only two people remained in the house — a boy and his sister."

He eventually made it to Canada as a refugee. He is grateful to be safe, yet the trauma persists — as it does for many Sudanese people who were lucky enough to escape.

'My future was stolen' 

Amro Khalid also left dreams behind in Sudan.

After growing up in Saudi Arabia, he moved to Sudan in 2019, inspired by the toppling of longtime ruler Omar al-Bashir in a military coup.

"It was four beautiful, sweet years" that followed, Khalid said through a translator. "I saw nationalism, I saw the feeling for the country."

He wanted to build a life in Sudan and went to university to become a dentist. But when fighting broke out again in 2023, his family's house, cars and money were taken.

"My future in Sudan was stolen. Nothing was left for us in it," he said

Khalid escaped to Egypt and successfully applied to move to Canada.

"I feel very lucky, thank God," he said. "This is a rare opportunity."

Still, it's not the path he chose.

"The life we are living currently is not a life we wanted to happen," he said. "It's a life that just came to us."

Advocating From Sask.

Among the Sudanese families now living in Regina and watching the terror of the conflict from a distance are Fatma Khairy, a doctor, and her daughter, Elaf. They try to keep up with the news and reach loved ones back home.

"We were glued to our cellphone all day looking for news, trying to contact my mom and my mother-in-law to see how they were doing," Fatma said.

Her brother-in-law was held hostage and tortured by the RSF for six months, she said. He was only freed when military forces intervened.

Meanwhile, Elaf's cousin was killed when RSF forces raided his bakery.

"I'm never going to see him again. I'm never going to talk to him again," she said.

Their grief helped spark community action. They helped organize demonstrations in Regina that brought together hundreds of people from the Sudanese community and allies, determined to raise awareness.

"I feel people here in Regina are able to make a difference," Fatma said.

Ali Elawad, a Regina‑born Sudanese Canadian, has taken that advocacy online. With nearly 11,000 followers on TikTok, he shifted his content from posts about his personal life and culture to explaining the crisis as it unfolded.

"At the end of the day, I'm just the winner of a geographical lottery," Elawad said. "I was born into peace, whereas I have family that wasn't."

One of his TikTok posts, breaking down the conflict for his audience, has now been viewed more than 800,000 times.

"I think it's very important to use that privilege that I have to speak out and speak on the atrocities that are going on," he said.

Urging action from Canada

Lubna Musa, co‑founder of the Sudanese Student Society at the University of Regina, says she felt compelled to do the same.

"I had this guilt," Musa said. "I'm posting for fun, and there's people who don't have that luxury."

She's been able to connect her group with other organizations to plan ways to advocate further for Sudan, she said.

Through protests, campus events and social media, Saskatchewan's Sudanese community is pushing back against silence, she said.

"You can't blame somebody who doesn't know," Musa said. "But you can only blame somebody who knows and says nothing."

But beyond raising awareness, many in the Sudanese community are urging the Canadian government to play a stronger role in ending the conflict, including reassessing ties with foreign actors who are accused of involvement.

Sudan formally accused the United Arab Emirates of supporting the RSF by supplying weapons and financing — an allegation the U.A.E. has denied.

Moubarak Bokhit Ali and Amro Khalid say they are encouraged by the advocacy they see in Saskatchewan and hope it leads to action to end the bloodshed.

"Everything that has a start has an end," Khalid said. "Just as this war started, it will end, and [Sudan will] come back as a stronger nation."