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Humanitarian teams in Sudan’s North Darfur region are facing insecurity and depleted supplies, as a United Nations agency says civilians are at risk of “an even greater catastrophe” if calls for more funding and access to aid are not met.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said the significant surge in displacement of Sudanese following reported mass killings, as well as ethnic and sexual violence, within El Fasher and surrounding villages have displaced at least 90,000 people.
“Without safe access and urgent funding, humanitarian operations risk grinding to a halt at the very moment communities need support the most,” IOM director general Amy Pope said in a statement Tuesday.
The IOM said more funding is critical to mitigate the humanitarian impact of the war between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
The migration agency said warehouses in North Darfur are almost empty as its aid convoys face “significant insecurity” and restrictions to access for the delivery of aid.
“Despite the rising need, humanitarian operations are now on the brink of collapse,” the statement said.
“IOM is urgently appealing for increased funding and immediate, sustained and safe humanitarian access to avert an even greater catastrophe.”
The RSF’s recent capture of North Darfur’s capital, El Fasher, left hundreds dead and forced tens of thousands of people to flee reports of atrocities by the paramilitary force, according to aid groups and UN officials. Those fleeing violence were undertaking a perilous journey through unsafe routes where they have no access to food, water or medical assistance.
More than two years into a civil war that has killed tens of thousands in Sudan, an analysis by CBC’s visual investigations unit has identified Canadian-made rifles in the hands of a paramilitary group responsible for massacres of civilians. Ashraf Ahmed, president of the Sudanese Canadian Community Association, discusses these findings and what Sudanese Canadians want to see Mark Carney’s administration do to help their loved ones in Sudan.
Tens of thousands of people have arrived at overcrowded displacement camps in Tawila, about 70 kilometres from El Fasher, over the last few weeks. In the camps, the displaced find themselves in barren areas with few tents and insufficient food and medical supplies.
“We have been getting little food from community kitchens here; we only get lunch meals,” Sohaiba Omar, 20, told The Associated Press from a shelter in Diba Nayra camp in Tawila.
“We also need a nearby source of water and toilets. Disposing of our wastes in the open can make us fall sick and catch diseases like cholera,” she added.
Batoul Mohamed, a 25-year-old volunteer at the camp, said: “The displaced are too many; they are also hungry. It is very difficult to have people come up to us saying that they could not eat because there was not enough food.”
The violence has spread to other parts of Sudan including Western Darfur and the Kordofan region, forcing more people to flee their homes. Kordofan has become the epicentre of the war between the Sudanese army and its rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in recent days.
Nearly 39,000 people fled the conflict in North Kordofan from Oct. 26 to Nov. 9, according to the IOM.
The war between the RSF and the military began in 2023, when tensions erupted between the two former allies that were meant to oversee a democratic transition after a 2019 uprising.
The fighting has killed at least 40,000 people, according to the World Health Organization, and displaced roughly 12 million civilians. However, aid groups say the true death toll could be much greater.
The war in Sudan has been raging for two and a half years, but in the last two weeks, a turning point has been reached. CBC News speaks to Nicholas Coghlan, a former Canadian diplomat in Sudan, for more on this story.
On Sunday, Sudan Doctors Network reported that the RSF collected hundreds of bodies from the streets of El Fasher and buried some in mass graves while burning others.
The group said that the RSF was acting in a “desperate attempt to conceal evidence of their crimes against civilians.”
The report comes more than a week after satellite images analyzed last week appeared to show the RSF disposing of bodies after they seized and rampaged through El Fasher. The Yale School of Public Health’s Humanitarian Research Lab described the images as showing the “burning of objects that may be consistent with bodies.”
On Thursday, the RSF said it had agreed to a proposal from the United States and Arab powers for a humanitarian ceasefire and is open to talks on a cessation of hostilities.
Both the RSF and the Sudanese army have agreed to various ceasefire proposals during their 2½-year-long war, though none have succeeded.
