The skyline of the vast and rugged Nuba Mountains in Sudan, stretching across the south of the country’s South Kordofan region, is defined by rocky hills and scattered huts.

Constant war has put pressure on the region’s Nuba people for decades, as the government in Khartoum starved and bombed them for decades after the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), the rebel group in control, fought for autonomy in the mountains.

More recently, ethnic cleansing campaigns by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have further haunted the local population.

Then, at the start of this year, the SPLM-N picked a side in the war, allying with the RSF, a group accused of genocide, war crimes and ethnic cleansing, which has battled the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) for control of the country since 2023.

The pact stirred deep uncertainty and mixed emotions among residents of the Nuba Mountains.

Some residents, scarred by past RSF abuses, regard the move with suspicion, but many are too afraid to speak openly, choosing instead to trust that their leaders’ decision will bring peace to the region.

Despite lingering fear, many hope the alliance could open a path to stability and peace – something desperately needed after decades of continual wars.

Conflict has brought hunger to the Nuba Mountains more than once, its spectre looming larger now that the new alliance might bring more fighting.

In 2024, a year into the war, famine was declared in parts of the mountains, driven by aid blockages by the warring parties, failed harvests and locust swarms.

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The local communities and the more than one million internally displaced people who have arrived in the region since the war began in 2023 survived on leaves and scraps, and continue to be food insecure.

Doctors across the region report a surge in malnutrition, especially among children and pregnant women, and warn of a silent mental health crisis among the displaced.

And yet, amid this devastation, a powerful spirit of solidarity endures. Communities reach across lines of faith and geography to support one another.

Local communities have welcomed the internally displaced into their homes, and those who settled in camps have formed tight-knit communities that help each other.