Aid group resumes activities at famine-hit camp in W. Sudan

7/11/2024 6:11

        The non-governmental medical aid group Doctors Without Borders (MSF) announced on Wednesday that it has resumed activities in a famine-hit camp for internally displaced persons in El Fasher, the capital of western Sudan's North Darfur State.
        "After 60 days, we have resumed our full outpatient nutritional program as we finally received 2,433 boxes of lifesaving Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Foods (RUTFs) and other medical supplies," the MSF said on social platform X.
        "This is only enough for five weeks," the organization added, noting, "We ran so low on therapeutic food supplies in September that we had to stop providing life-saving treatment to 5,000 children under five in the midst of an intense hunger crisis."
        In early August, MSF reported it was forced to reduce the number of malnourished children receiving treatment at the Zamzam camp, one of the largest camps for the displaced in Sudan's Darfur region, due to a medical supply blockade imposed by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
        Sudan has been ravaged by a deadly conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the RSF since mid-April 2023. According to a situation report issued by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project on Oct. 14, the conflict has resulted in over 24,850 deaths.
        Since May 10, fierce clashes have raged in El Fasher between the country's two warring parties.
        In late October, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for efforts to end hostilities and protect civilians in war-torn Sudan, highlighting that the Sudanese people are "enduring a nightmare of hunger," with more than 750,000 people facing catastrophic food insecurity, famine conditions taking hold in displacement sites in North Darfur, and millions struggling to feed themselves daily.