"They didn't even give him a chance. They shot him more than 20 or 25 times. "One of our childhood friends was also with them, but he couldn't say anything. So he just saw our friend die in front of his eyes - and that's it." The matter of fact way in which Sudan forward John Mano recounts the death of his best friend Medo is at odds with the intense look burning in his eyes as he does so."
"Medo is one of more than 150,000 people to have been killed during the country's civil war which began in April 2023. Mano, who debuted for the national team just months before the conflict started, says Medo had travelled to the city of Wadi Halfa, near the border with Egypt, to arrange documentation to leave the country during what the United Nations is calling the world's largest humanitarian crisis."
""I think they forgot some certificates," the 24-year-old tells BBC Sport Africa, speaking at the team's hotel at the ongoing 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) in Morocco. "It was so important for the family and he had to go back. He went to his house and took everything. "They caught him. They said, 'Are you working with the army?' He just wanted to explain. But they started shooting him.""
Sudan's civil war since April 2023 has killed over 150,000 people and forced more than 12 million from their homes, with famine and reports of genocide in Darfur. Medo, a young man attempting to obtain travel documentation in Wadi Halfa, was shot more than 20 times. John Mano, a national team forward who debuted months before the conflict, lost his best friend and witnessed the brutality at close range. Football activity has been devastated: stadiums destroyed, the domestic league halted, and major clubs playing in foreign leagues while players and families suffer acute humanitarian needs.
Read at www.bbc.com
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