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Returning back to the Jebel Marra region, SLA-AW checkpoints guard every road into the mountains, and armed men also demand money. Bags are searched with contraband, even including skin-bleaching creams, widely used elsewhere in Sudan, are confiscated. Once inside the SLA-AW controlled area, despite the relative peace, there are clear signs of the conflict elsewhere in the country. Lorries filled with people fleeing the fighting, particularly around el-Fasher, can be seen on a daily basis. Many of them find shelter in schools, clinics and other public spaces receiving little to no humanitarian assistance - aid agencies struggle to get through all the checkpoints. In Golo, the de facto capital of the SLA-AW territory, a woman who had escaped from el-Fasher, described the dire conditions. She is now sheltering in a classroom with 25 other freshly arrived families. "We have no income. No jobs to do, I used to work as a nurse and I can farm, but the land here belongs to people who work only for themselves. We don't know what to do," the woman said. As she spoke, sick, elderly people lay on the ground and children were screaming from hunger. At least there will be some relief as the food that could not be taken out of Golo will be available. This is the Jebel Marra region, a strange world surrounded by war. A world of green mountains and waterfalls. A world of bright, juicy fruit. A world of frightened evacuees. One fruit trader said he had lost hope in both warring parties. "We're not part of the war - we just want to sell our oranges."
