A senior official from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Idim Sourno, described the humanitarian crisis in Sudan as the “largest humanitarian crisis in the world,” saying that Khartoum has become a “ghost city.” This comes as the war in Sudan continues between the army and the Rapid Support Forces.
On Monday, the Abu Shouk camp emergency room announced that at least 40 people were killed and 19 others injured in an attack carried out by the Rapid Support Forces on the camp, which shelters displaced people. Last week, 63 deaths were recorded due to malnutrition in the besieged city of El Fasher.
The humanitarian crisis in Sudan is worsening, with casualties mounting from killing, hunger, and disease. Idim Sourno emphasized the importance of paying attention to the situation in Sudan.
At least 40 people were killed and 19 others wounded on Monday in an attack by Rapid Support Forces on the Abu Shouk displaced persons camp on the outskirts of El Fasher city in the Darfur region of western Sudan, according to the Abu Shouk camp emergency room. The emergency room stated the victims were injured “between stray bullets and targeted killings after Rapid Support Forces penetrated into Abu Shouk camp from the northern side of El Fasher.”
The El Fasher Resistance Committees Coordination, a group of democracy-seeking volunteers, confirmed the death toll, noting that “some were directly targeted and killed among the civilians… in a scene that reflects the extent of horrific violations committed against unarmed innocent people.”
The Rapid Support Forces have besieged El Fasher and the surrounding refugee camps since May 2024. El Fasher remains the only major city in Darfur still held by the army.
Amid the war and deteriorating humanitarian conditions, around 25 million people across Sudan suffer from food insecurity, according to the United Nations. Malnutrition in El Fasher led to at least 63 deaths last week.
Malnutrition threatens an entire generation of children
Reports indicate that some families have resorted to eating animal feed or food leftovers. Adam Issa, a leader at Abu Shouk camp, told Agence France-Presse on Sunday that “the death rate among children in the camp (due to malnutrition) ranges between five and seven daily.”
Sheldon Yett, the UNICEF representative in Sudan, warned of an “imminent catastrophe” following his visit to Sudan last week. He stated, “We are on the brink of irreversible harm to a whole generation of children.”
In addition to war and hunger, Sudanese face the risk of cholera due to the collapse of infrastructure and the lack of clean water, health facilities, and medicine. According to the World Health Organization, Sudan had about 100,000 cholera cases as of Thursday since July 2024.
Without clean water, health care, and medicine, hundreds of thousands of Sudanese people resort to mixing water and lemon to protect themselves from the deadly bacteria.
The war that has been raging in Sudan since April 2023 has caused tens of thousands of deaths and displaced more than 13 million people within and outside the country, in what the United Nations describes as the largest displacement crisis in the world.
