It had been nearly two years since AFP journalist Abdelmoneim Abu Idris Ali set foot in his home in war-torn Khartoum, when the sound of children playing in the street gave way to the rattle of machine guns. Bombs tore through homes, fighters took over the streets and hundreds of thousands scrambled to escape, among them the 59-year-old Sudanese journalist, his wife, his son and three daughters. As he inspects his damaged house, Abdelmoneim laments: "they tore up the books, they tore up the books." IMAGES