Actress Asia Abdelmajid Killed in Crossfire Amid Sudan Crisis

Asia Abdelmajid, one of Sudan’s first professional female stage actors, has died. Abdelmajid was killed in crossfire in the north of Khartoum, Sudan’s capital city, on Wednesday, according to the BBC. She would have turned 80 this year.

At this time, details surrounding Abdelmajid’s death remain unclear, with the BBC reporting that it remains unclear who fired the shot that struck the actress, who lived in Northern Khartoum. The outlet noted that paramilitary fighters of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), who are ensconced in their bases in residential areas across the city, continue to battle the army. Sources on the ground in Khartoum told Middle East Eye that the RSF continues to dominate in Bahri, south and east Khartoum, and south Omdurman. Sources also told the outlet that “there was still fighting around key strategic buildings in the airport district, including the army headquarters and the presidential palace. Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) air strikes are ongoing, with an Egyptian military source telling MEE that Egyptian pilots are flying some of the planes.”

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Violence between Sudan’s military and the country’s paramilitary force first broke out on April 15 as the result of a power struggle between the two factions, per Deadline, which reported that the two groups together toppled a civilian government in an October 2021 coup. So far, more than 500 people have been killed and over 4,000 injured. An additional 334,000 people are estimated to have been internally displaced, with over 100,000 people having fled to neighboring countries, per the UN, with UN officials warning of a “full-blown catastrophe” if the fighting continues.

The widow of acclaimed Sudanese poet Mohamed Moftah Al Faitory, Abdelmajid was born in 1943 and is considered to be one of the country’s first professional female stage actors. She first rose to prominence in the 1965 production of the play Pamseeka, which was put on at the national theater in Omdurman to mark the anniversary of Sudan’s first revolution against a coup leader. Considered a pioneer of the stage, she later retired o become a teacher. Abdelmajid’s family said, per the BBC, that the actress was laid to rest within hours of the shooting within the grounds of a kindergarten where she most recently worked as it was too dangerous to take her to a cemetery.