Administrators of Internally Displaced Peoples’ (IDP) in Sudan’s Darfur have warned of an impending famine in camps across the region where fighting between the army and the Rapid Support Forces has recently escalated.
Ishaq Mohammed Abdullah, the head of the administration of the displaced peoples’ and refugee camps, told Radio Tamazuj Sunday that hunger in the camps has become a reality that has imposed itself on the people affected by war.
“The people of Darfur have become mostly displaced and refugees and have lost all the necessities of life and survival as the fighting continues across the region,” he said. “The situation at the moment encourages the continuation of more violations and yet the United Nations and humanitarian organizations complain of various obstacles in delivering relief to the people.”
Abdullah explained that before the outbreak of the current war, the Darfur region had 3.1 million displaced people as a result of previous wars between the former regime and the armed movements.
He said the current conflict increased the number of displaced people and called on the United Nations, the UN Security Council, and the African Union to work to save the lives of the displaced by delivering humanitarian aid to the camps that have become overcrowded.
Meanwhile, an activist, Ibrahim Shumu, echoed the slow response of humanitarian organizations to the needs of the displaced people in Darfur.
He said the citizens who had returned to El Geneina had fled back to refugee camps in neighboring Chad after renewed fighting between the army and the RSF which led to the fall of the SAF’s 15 Infantry Division last Sunday.
For her part, a human rights defender, Safiya Ishaq, said that refugees in the Maji and Abtenqi camps in Chad have received two-month food rations but face water shortages.
“We are witnessing a new wave of people fleeing El Geneina,” she reported, adding that those in Adrei have not received food aid and their conditions are difficult.
According to Ishaq, the Chadian Armed Forces receive the injured at the gate at the border and transport them to hospitals for further treatment.
The RSF took control of the army headquarters in Nyala, South Darfur, Zalingei, Central Darfur, and El Geneina, West Darfur State at a time when international reports indicate that the region’s communities are increasingly suffering from the effects of the fighting.