United Nations humanitarian workers in war-torn Sudan on Friday highlighted the rapidly growing needs of the more than 100,000 displaced people sheltering in the city of El Obeid. The capital of North Kordofan State is home to large numbers of displaced people and is also a critical logistics hub for the humanitarian response across the wider Kordofan region, which supports relief efforts in areas of acute need, including the cities of Dilling and Kadugli in South Kordofan State.
El Obeid, which normally has a population of over half a million, now has almost double that number of people and has become a crowded city filled with internally displaced people, with many living in open camps and many others living with host communities.
“We are providing even not the full food ration to the people, but even that reduced food ration is being shared by the recipients with other families, because they know that they don't have any other source of income,” said Abdallah Alwardat, Country Director of the World Food Programme (WFP) in Sudan.
Scale-up of aid urgently needed
Briefing journalists in Geneva via video link from Kosti, a city south of Khartoum, Alwardat provided an update on his recent visit to El Obeid. UN human rights chief Volker TĂĽrk has warned that civilians in the town have been under siege for 18 months and are facing continuous drone strikes, amid fears of a possible offensive by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Control of El Obeid and the surrounding area remains highly contested, with the frontlines repeatedly shifting between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the RSF. The UN warns that any further disruption to roads into and out of El Obeid would significantly hinder efforts to provide humanitarian aid to those in need.
Following reports of a significant troop build-up around the town, as well as intensified drone strikes and artillery shelling, TĂĽrk has also warned that an offensive could result in further serious international crimes being committed and could worsen the already catastrophic impact on the civilian population.
“WFP has been providing food assistance to over 100,000 people in these camps inside the city”, but there are many more displaced individuals sheltering in El Obeid “and they need urgent assistance”, the WFP official said.
“What we need to do is really now to plan for the scale-up beyond the 100,000 people that we have been supporting,” Alwardat stressed, adding that the UN agency also provides nutrition support to 17,000 children caught up in the crisis and living in camps.
The veteran humanitarian described how one elderly woman he met was entirely reliant on the UN agency’s food rations. However, this was only one of her problems.
“She was waiting to receive the food and she was just thinking how to carry the food back to her tent. She wanted to move it on this little tuk-tuk […]. So, she was going around to look at other families, if they can share the cost of transferring the food back to the tents,” he said.
More than three years have passed since Sudan’s rival militaries embarked on a brutal war following the collapse of the country’s transition to civilian rule after the overthrow of long-standing former President Omar al-Bashir.
An estimated 33.7 million people — nearly two-thirds of the population, including over 20 million children — currently require humanitarian assistance and protection across Sudan due to the conflict that escalated in April 2023.
Sudan remains plagued by the world's largest displacement crisis
The country's armed forces continue to battle the RSF militia — former allies turned enemies — for control of this vast country. More than 14 million people have been displaced, making this both the world's largest displacement crisis and its biggest humanitarian disaster. Both sides have been linked to grave human rights violations. Around 5 million people have fled across borders to neighboring countries.
With almost 20 million people in Sudan now classified as acutely food insecure, WFP is helping three to five million of the most vulnerable, who are facing emergency or catastrophic food insecurity.
Hunger is worsening despite humanitarian access
“We want to do more, for sure. But of course, we are also stretched on our resources. But definitely, we have the access. We can deliver the food, and we can be there, and we can work with partners on the ground. Resources are limiting us to do that one,” WFP’s Alwardat said.
He reported that during his five-hour drive from Kosti to El Obeid, which is about 350 to 400 kilometers away, he did not see any military operations. The veteran humanitarian also noted the lack of commercial trucks or supplies heading towards the city, where food, water, and fuel remain in short supply.
WFP's mission to the capital of North Kordofan helped alleviate fuel shortages, which have prevented aid partners from delivering food to displaced people in recent days.
“As long as we have the necessary financial support, I think we have the means and the capacity to sustain that lifeline,” Alwardat emphasized.
“And we have been delivering the food; the last two or three weeks, we have managed to deliver the food and the pre-positioned food for the next two months. And we started the distribution already for July, and we are ready to do for August.”
He added that flexible funding from donors would make a scale-up feasible and noted that the road from Kosti to El Obeid, which he had crossed on Thursday, was functional.