Sudan's invisible children - born in war with no legal identity

If a mother cannot provide the name of her child's father, she is often unable to get a birth certificate Warning: This story contains details some may find distressing A 17-year-old Sudanese girl holds a young child in her arms with a heavy calm that belies her age and the concerns she has for his future. "This son of mine has no father, no birth certificate and no national number," Amira, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, tells the BBC. Looking down at him, she speaks slowly as if still trying to grasp the details of what has happened to her since the civil war erupted in Sudan. She and her family used to live in the eastern neighbourhoods of el-Fasher, a city that came under siege from the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which has been in a brutal power struggle with the military since April 2023. El-Fasher was the army's last stronghold in the western region of Darfur until it fell to the RSF and allied Arab militias after 18 months last October.

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