Sudan: Escalating Suffering for Displaced People During Ramadan
Sudan Events – Agencies
Two hours before Iftar, women and their children line up in long, winding queues to receive a Ramadan meal inside a displacement center in Port Sudan, the temporary administrative capital of Sudan.
This scene repeats daily, with little variation in the type of meal, which usually consists of corn porridge, and occasionally “girasah,” made from wheat flour, topped with “mulah al-weeka”—a dish favored by the general Sudanese population during Ramadan.
Women begin preparing food at midday for around 500 displaced people staying at the center, including many young children. This is their only meal of the day, and often, many fasting people cannot get a meal due to limited supplies.
One displaced person told Asharq Al-Awsat that the conditions in the previous Ramadan were “much better than this year,” attributing this to a decline in support from donors and organizations.
He added, “We used to receive significant support from organizations and philanthropists both inside Sudan and abroad, in addition to the continuous aid coming from local residents of the areas surrounding the center.”
Officials state that more than 17,000 displaced people are spread across 55 shelters since the outbreak of the war, and these numbers haven’t decreased much, despite the Sudanese army reclaiming vast areas in the central island region and parts of Khartoum Bahri.
However, shelters still house thousands of displaced people who have come from different parts of the capital Khartoum, as well as a significant number from Darfur in the west. Some displaced people mentioned that several shelters received their share of humanitarian aid after a week into Ramadan.
The lack of support has directly impacted the food situation for the displaced. Pregnant women, children, and elderly men are suffering from malnutrition, and their suffering is compounded by the lack of money to purchase medicine, especially for those with chronic illnesses. Most of those staying at the center have been there for two years.
One of the supervisors told Asharq Al-Awsat, “In the morning, we hear the cries of hungry children; they need Iftar or money to buy food.” He added, “Some mothers resort to selling tea and food in the markets, while others work as domestic workers to provide a little food for their families. More than 180 families living in the shelter rely entirely on the support of a philanthropist who donates 25 kilograms of wheat flour and 2 kilograms of meat daily.”
On the other hand, volunteers working in public kitchens to provide food for those stranded in conflict areas in Khartoum reported that the situation during Ramadan has not changed from regular days, and thousands of citizens continue to depend on community kitchens (“takaia”) for their meals.
Most of the shelters are old and dilapidated schools lacking proper ventilation, while some areas consist of tents made from cloth. Currently, some residents face the problem of being relocated to the outskirts of the cities, where basic services are unavailable. They have called on relevant authorities to intervene and find solutions to this issue.
