Thirst Threatens Hundreds of Displaced Sudanese in North Darfur
(AWP) - Thousands of residents of El-Fasher city in northern Darfur in Sudan have fled towards the already over-crowded Zamzam camp for the displaced.
Recent developments have turned the city into a violent battleground between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces, forcing hundreds towards the camp, which has led to an extreme shortage in food, water, and medicine.
The displaced Sudanese are suffering severe thirst across El-Fasher city, especially in the camps for the displaced overcrowded with waves of people fleeing the battles, due to the lack of nearby water sources and the difficulty in transporting water from outside the camp.
Halima Musa, a displaced Sudanese woman, who recently arrived in Zamzam camp for the displaced with her children, said that the place lacks the most basic necessities of life, including drinking water, which especially threatens the lives of breastfeeding women, the elderly, and children.
She said, "We are suffering from many things. We want you to provide us with services – first and foremost water. People came here with nothing in their hands. We only brought our children.”
Musa added, “In addition to providing water, we also need containers in which we can carry water, as we suffer from this a lot. We have children and there are breastfeeding mothers, pregnant women and the elderly. We would like all these things addressed and for people to try to help us with the most important things first, then with the simple things.”
Mubarak Mohammed Idris, a member of the Humanitarian Emergency Room at the Zamzam camp, told AWP that the increasing pressure on the camp’s wells led to them drying up, at a time when international humanitarian organisations have left the area due to the intensifying conflict.
“The displaced men and women, children in Zamzam camp, and the infirm and elderly, suffer from diseases such as diabetes and severe malnutrition,” Idris said, warning of the worsening conditions in the camp.
Idris appealed to all international organisations, such as the World Food Programme and all health organisations, to “try to save the people of Zamzam camp.”