There is nothing but hunger and bombs remaining: The tragedy of El -Fasher between the siege and the famine

The little girl, a spokesperson from a long camp for the displaced, said about 75 km away: “Hunger forced us to leave.” She added that the shells falling on the capital of North Darfur, where only “Hunger and bombs”. She said.

Today, hundreds of thousands of people trapped in El Fasher are still starving, as the city is still isolated from the World Food and Humanitarian Aid Program. The hunger crisis comes one year after the confirmation of starvation for the first time in the country. Since then, the situation has worsened, especially in El Fasher, with the continued destroyed war in the country.

Eric Berdison, regional director of the World Food Program for East and South Africa, said: “Everyone in El -Fasher is facing a daily struggle to survive. After more than two years of war, people have exhausted completely available adaptation mechanisms.”

The crisis in Sudan has caused the largest hunger crisis in the world, facing about 25 million people – that is, half of the country’s population – has severe starvation, and 3.5 million women and children suffer from malnutrition.

In El Fasher, it is reported that some residents live on animal feed and food. While the World Food Program continues to provide digital cash support for about a quarter of a million people in the city, which allows them to purchase the dwindling food in the markets, this assistance is not commensurate with the escalating needs, which makes it necessary to provide in -kind assistance to face hunger on a large scale.

Continuous access is necessary

Prices have increased dramatically due to the closure of trade routes and supply lines to El Fasher, including basic commodity prices such as flour and corn. Community kitchens, which were established to feed the hungry. Many of those who managed to escape are described by the spread of violence, looting and sexual assaults in the city.

Bordison said: “People will die without immediate and continuous access to humanitarian workers.”

Like Sundus and her family, many of those who managed to leave Al -Fasher have ended in a long area. But the temporary tents in the camp, spread on the sand, provides little protection from the rainy season that has now begun. For the camp residents of about 400,000 people – many of them have only arrived in their clothes – the World Food Program quotas are often high -energy biscuits rich in nutrients, corn, vegetable oil, and salt are their only source of strength.

Muhammad, another resident of a 47 -year -old, narrated a horrific journey from Zamzam camp for the displaced in North Darfur, which is afflicted with famine, to Al -Fasher, and finally to long.

He said that people died of thirst on the way. Muhammad added: “Many of them were begging for water,” Describing how one cup was divided among four people: “Everyone had to take only one sip, barely enough to reach his stomach.”

Long displaced people are among more than four million Sudanese supported by the World Food Program monthly. Many of them are in the country’s most starvated and affected parts of the conflict. The program also supports more than 600,000 women and a child with food supplements.

The World Food Program stated that this assistance made a big difference. It helped reduce catastrophic hunger in parts of the center and west of Darfur, for example. But these gains are fragile, in light of the continued blocking of the main foci of hunger, such as El Fasher.

Food trucks are ready

Corin Fleisher, director of supply and aid delivery chain on the World Food Program, says: “The World Food Program is ready for trucks full of food aid to send to El Fasher. We urgently need guarantees in safe passage.”

The World Food Program has received statements from the Humanitarian Aid Commission in Port Sudan to allow a humanitarian aid convoy to apply to El Fasher. But the Rapid Support Forces, which has been besieging the capital of North Darfur for more than a year, have not yet announced their support to stop the fighting to allow humanitarian goods to enter the city.

For families displaced in long, hunger and conflict are closely related. One of the mothers, who is called Jamila, described how her sister died of starvation earlier this year in Zamzam camp.

She said: “The worst thing we faced was hunger and the loss of our brothers and sisters. It is difficult to lose an individual from the family forever. “ She adds: “Hunger that is still continuing today is very difficult.”

She said Beautiful, her family cut the trip to a long area on foot, and walked at night with dozens of other families. Other Sudanese helped them at water points all the way.

The World Food Program requests $ 645 million during the next six months to continue the emergency, cash and nutritional food aid in Sudan.

This story was prepared by colleagues in the World Food Program.