The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is warning that thousands of civilians remain trapped in heavy fighting in the Sudanese town of El Fasher, where the Saudi Hospital, the only remaining hospital, has come under repeated attack and hospital staff are running out of medical supplies. In a statement Thursday, the ICRC said "to this day" it has been unable to get humanitarian aid into the town.
“We call on the parties to the conflict to respect their obligations under international humanitarian law and facilitate access for lifesaving humanitarian assistance,” the Red Cross said.
El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state, is the site of intense fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which has escalated since April this year.
The main supply routes around El Fasher remain inaccessible, and humanitarian and commercial trucks are unable to deliver essential food and medical supplies. At the same time, hundreds of thousands of displaced people who have lost their livelihoods and access to farmland in places like Zam Zam camp are going hungry as food shortages become critical.
“Humanitarian organizations must be able to reach vulnerable communities in Zam Zam and other places with relief supplies before it is too late,“ the ICRC said.
“In the short term, we urge the parties to the conflict to open more supply routes to ensure the safe and unimpeded delivery of humanitarian assistance and the movement of essential commercial goods to Al Fasher [El Fasher], Al Obeid, Sennar, Al Jaziera [El Gezira], and other areas affected by fighting.”
The war between rival Sudanese forces, which erupted in April 2023, has pushed parts of North Darfur state into famine, particularly the Zamzam camp, home to more than half a million displaced people.
Sudan's 16-month civil war between the SAF and RSF, which began on April 15 last year, has killed and injured tens of thousands of people, resulted in widespread atrocities and caused massive displacement. Many observers consider Sudan to be the world's largest humanitarian crisis. The war has also created what the United Nations has called the world's worst hunger crisis.
A recent food assessment found that 25.6 million people, or half the country's population, face acute hunger, and while 13 areas are at risk of famine, the IPC's Famine Review Committee has declared famine in the Zamzam camp near El Fasher in North Darfur. The 14 areas either in famine or at risk of famine are mostly located in Darfur, Kordofan, Khartoum, and El Gezira.
In a positive development, more than a dozen aid trucks - including some from the World Food Programme (WFP) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) - have now crossed the Adre border crossing from neighboring Chad into the Darfur region.
WFP trucks carrying sorghum, pulses, oil and rice for 13,000 people facing famine in Kereneik, West Darfur, crossed on Tuesday evening. The UN agency says it has food and nutritional supplies for some 500,000 people ready to move quickly through the newly reopened route.
The first WFP food convoys targeting desperate communities crossed the Adre border from Chad after the Sudanese authorities reopened the crossing following a six-month closure.
“The re-opening of the Adre crossing is critical for the effort to prevent famine from spreading across Sudan, and it must now stay in use. I want to acknowledge all parties for taking this vital step to help WFP get lifesaving aid to millions of people in desperate need,” said WFP Executive Director Cindy McCain in a statement Wednesday.
“We urgently need to reach every corner of Sudan with food assistance – and this requires humanitarian corridors and all border crossings to be open so aid agencies can bring in supplies every single day. This is the only way to avoid widespread starvation.”
For its part, the IOM said the essential relief items delivered to Sudan will support more than 12,000 people in need.
According to the UN, the Adre crossing from Chad is the most effective and direct way to deliver humanitarian assistance to Sudan at the scale and speed required to respond to the country's massive hunger crisis.
According to the World Food Programme, trucks can cross from Adre into Darfur and reach key distribution points the same day.
Since the official closure of Adre in February, WFP has only been able to run two convoys through the crossing - one in March and one in April. Otherwise, WFP has used the longer route through Chad's Tine crossing into North Darfur. Or the long, dangerous routes from Port Sudan in the east of the country that cross battle fronts and areas controlled by different militia groups to reach communities in Darfur.
But the Tine crossing is now largely impassable for trucks due to seasonal flooding.
“In the meantime, our humanitarian colleagues continue to engage with the Sudanese authorities to facilitate additional trucks coming in the coming days and months. We will need a constant supply of humanitarian goods,” UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said in a media briefing on Wednesday.
“It is critical to sustain that flow of food and nutrition assistance into and across Sudan, where more than a dozen areas are either at risk of or in famine. WFP is scaling up food assistance there and aims to support more than 8 million men, women and children by the end of this calendar year.”
On Thursday, the International Committee of the Red Cross also welcomed the opening of the Adre crossing for three months.
“Any initiative that can improve humanitarian access is an important and encouraging development,” the ICRC said.
“It is a positive first step, however, we remind all parties that the three months coincide with the rainy season, which naturally complicates access because of heavy rains and flash floods. And we urge the parties to keep the Adre crossing open to ensure the flow of aid. “
Meanwhile, the escalation of fighting in Sudan's southwestern Sennar State has severely hampered humanitarian aid deliveries in large parts of the country.
Clashes between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces in Sennar have forced more than 725,000 people to flee their homes since fighting flared in late June, many for the second or third time since the war began. More than half of the displaced are estimated to be children. Many families have fled to Blue Nile and Gedaref.
The escalation of fighting in Sennar has severely hampered the delivery of humanitarian aid to much of the country. It is cutting off critical cross-line supply routes for the resupply and delivery of aid to affected populations from a key humanitarian hub in Kosti, White Nile State.
Sixteen months into the armed conflict between the SAF and the RSF, millions of people lack access to basic services such as food, water and health care. Nearly a quarter of the country's population has fled their homes and lost their livelihoods, while months of fighting have taken a heavy toll on civilian infrastructure.
Since the start of the war, more than 10.5 million people - including more than 5 million children - have been forced to flee due to the ongoing conflict. While nearly 8.2 million people - Sudanese and refugees already living in the country - have been displaced within Sudan, more than 2.3 million women, men and children have sought refuge in other countries.
Most of the Sudanese who have crossed borders have sought refuge in the seven countries surrounding the northeastern African nation. South Sudan has received the largest number of people from Sudan - more than 780,000 - many of them South Sudanese returning after many years. Chad has seen the largest influx of refugees in its history, with some 632,000 people crossing the border.
As of August 2024, some 11 million women, men, and children have been internally displaced by conflict in the country - 2.8 million before April 2023 - making Sudan the largest internal displacement crisis in the world.
The total number of Sudanese refugees is estimated at more than 2.8 million, including those forced to flee before April 2023. In total, more than 13.8 million people have now been displaced by the conflict in Sudan, making it the world's worst displacement crisis.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), nearly 15 million people need urgent health assistance to survive. Less than 25 percent of health facilities are functioning in the Sudanese states most affected by the war, and only 45 percent of such facilities are fully functional in other states.
Further information
Full text: Sudan: Thousands of civilians trapped in fighting have nowhere safe to go, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), statement, released August 22, 2023
https://www.icrc.org/en/news-release/sudan-thousands-civilians-trapped-fighting-have-nowhere-safe-go
Full text: First WFP trucks cross Sudan's reopened Adre border with food for communities at risk of famine, World Food Programme (WFP), press release, published August 21, 2023
https://www.wfp.org/news/first-wfp-trucks-cross-sudans-reopened-adre-border-food-communities-risk-famine