Civil War in Sudan Pushes El-Fasher Displaced Persons Camp into Famine
The ongoing civil war in Sudan has plunged Zamzam camp, which houses approximately 500,000 displaced individuals near the besieged city of El-Fasher, into famine, according to an independent group of food security experts.
The Famine Review Committee (FRC) attributed the dire situation to the 16-month conflict and restrictions on aid deliveries.
“The scale of devastation brought by the escalating violence in El-Fasher is profound and harrowing,” the FRC reported, noting that the camp’s population had significantly increased since April.
The conflict, a power struggle between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), has created the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, displacing 10 million people.
This development comes as US-mediated talks, scheduled to begin in two weeks, appear to be in jeopardy. While the Rapid Support Forces has accepted the invitation to Geneva, it remains unclear if the army will attend following an alleged assassination attempt on military leader Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan on Wednesday.
“The main drivers of famine in Zamzam camp are conflict and lack of humanitarian access, both of which can immediately be rectified with the necessary political will,” the FRC stated.
The committee, linked to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) – a global initiative by UN agencies, aid groups, and governments that identifies famine conditions – analyzed two reports:
The IPC’s Sudan working group’s latest assessment, which revealed that 25.6 million people, or 54% of the population, are experiencing high levels of acute food insecurity, with 14 areas at risk of famine.
Data published on Thursday by the US agency Famine Early Warning Systems Network (Fews Net), which suggested that famine might also be ongoing in Abu Shouk and Al Salam camps near El-Fasher, although there was insufficient evidence to confirm this.
The conditions for declaring an area in famine include that at least 20% of households face an extreme lack of food, 30% of children are acutely malnourished, and two out of every 10,000 people die daily from starvation or malnutrition and disease.
Since April, the RSF has been fighting to take control of El-Fasher from the army, which remains the only city under military control in the western region of Darfur.
According to the FRC, around 320,000 people have fled the city, with 150,000 to 200,000 moving to Zamzam camp in search of security, basic services, and food within a few weeks in May.
In May, the UN expert on genocide prevention warned that many civilians in El-Fasher were being targeted based on their ethnicity, raising concerns of a growing risk of genocide.
The violence in Darfur is reminiscent of the ethnic cleansing unleashed by Arab Janjaweed militias on non-Arab communities two decades ago.
The main market in Zamzam camp has been intermittently open, and by June, prices had surged dramatically – by 63% for cooking oil, 190% for sugar, 67% for millet, and 75% for rice, according to the FRC’s 47-page report. Famine conditions prevailed in June and July and are likely to persist until the harvest season in October.
However, experts fear that the hunger crisis will not ease much as the war has prevented many farmers from planting. Barrett Alexander of the aid agency Mercy Corps warned that the dire situation in El-Fasher, particularly in Zamzam camp, is “merely the tip of the iceberg.” He noted that widespread deaths typically occur before a famine is officially declared.
A recent Mercy Corps assessment in Central and South Darfur revealed that nine out of 10 children were suffering from life-threatening malnutrition.
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), one of the last aid groups operating in El-Fasher, cautioned that the situation would worsen if an apparent blockade on humanitarian aid is not lifted urgently.
“Our trucks left N’Djamena in Chad over six weeks ago and should have reached El-Fasher by now, but we have no idea when they will be released,” said Stéphane Doyon, MSF’s head of emergencies in Sudan.
The MSF lorries are carrying therapeutic food and medical supplies for children in Zamzam camp, as well as surgical supplies for the last remaining hospital in El-Fasher capable of performing surgeries.
The Saudi Hospital was hit by shelling on Monday, killing three staff members and injuring at least 25 people – the 10th attack in under three months, according to MSF.
“We do not know if hospitals are being intentionally targeted, but the incident on Monday shows that the belligerents are not taking any precautions to spare them,” Doyon said.
Both the army and the RSF have been accused of blocking and looting aid, allegations that both sides deny. The urgent need for humanitarian access and political resolution is critical to alleviating the suffering of the displaced populations in Sudan.
