A Sudanese popular committee announced on Sunday that 95 people, including 73 children, have died from hunger and disease in Abu Shouk camp in the city of El Fasher over the past forty days.
In a statement, the Abu Shouk Camp Emergency Room (a popular committee) said: “More than 73 children under the age of five and 22 elderly people have died in the last 40 days due to hunger and disease among the displaced residents of Abu Shouk camp who had fled to shelters and residential gatherings in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state in western Sudan.”
The statement added: “The security and humanitarian conditions for the residents of El Fasher are dire and alarming due to the absence of basic services. There is neither water nor food, especially for the displaced who have lost access to the communal kitchens that used to provide meals, and there are no health services.”
The committee further warned of “a looming health disaster due to uncollected corpses scattered across every neighborhood and street of the city, where the deteriorating security situation does not even allow for proper burials.”
They appealed to international and humanitarian organizations working in the field of human rights to provide a safe corridor guaranteeing the protection of unarmed civilians so they can flee conflict areas.
On Thursday, the Sudan Doctors’ Union reported 23 deaths from malnutrition among children and women in El Fasher during the month of September.
Earlier, on July 26, the Sudan Doctors’ Union had announced the deaths of 239 children in El Fasher since January due to shortages of food and medicine.
The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been imposing a siege on El Fasher since May 10, 2024, despite international warnings of the consequences, given that El Fasher is the humanitarian hub for all five Darfur states.
Since mid-April 2023, fighting between the Sudanese army and the RSF has killed more than 20,000 people and displaced or forced into refuge nearly 15 million, according to the United Nations and local authorities. A separate study conducted by American universities estimated the death toll at around 130,000.
