UN: Thousands of Children Face Death in Besieged El Fasher, Sudan
Sudan Events – Agencies
Four United Nations agencies warned on Thursday that thousands of children in the besieged city of El Fasher, in Sudan’s Darfur region, are facing an imminent risk of death as acute malnutrition rates soar.
The agencies said that more than a quarter of a million civilians — nearly half of them children — have been cut off from food and healthcare amid the ongoing conflict that has gripped the city for the past 16 months.
“Health facilities have collapsed, and thousands of children suffering from severe malnutrition are left without treatment,” the statement said, according to Reuters.
El Fasher, now gripped by famine, is the last stronghold of the Sudanese army in the vast western region, where it continues to battle the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in a civil war that erupted in April 2023.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM), the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and the World Food Programme (WFP) said their representatives had witnessed large-scale devastation across Darfur and other parts of Sudan during recent visits. They added that malnutrition rates have worsened nationwide.
“Famine was confirmed in parts of Sudan last year, and the hunger situation remains catastrophic — with children among the hardest hit,” the agencies said.
Residents returning to the capital, Khartoum, after the army regained control, found entire neighborhoods reduced to rubble.
“I met people who returned to a city still reeling from conflict — homes destroyed, and only the most basic services barely functioning,” said Ugochi Daniels, Deputy Director General of the IOM.
The agencies estimated that more than 30 million people, including nearly 15 million children, are now in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.
So far, only one-quarter of the $4.2 billion required under the UN’s 2025 Humanitarian Response Plan for Sudan has been funded.
Continued Displacement
Hundreds of families have fled El Fasher toward displacement camps in North Darfur, western Sudan, amid renewed military escalation around the besieged city. The offensive has included a series of intense drone and artillery strikes by the RSF on residential areas, killing and injuring hundreds of civilians.
Adam Regal, spokesperson for the Darfur Refugees and Displaced Persons Coordination, said that “hundreds of newly displaced families — mostly women and children — from El Fasher have arrived in the Tawila area under dire humanitarian conditions.”
In a statement posted on Facebook, he added that the area has already received hundreds of thousands of displaced people from El Fasher and nearby camps over the past several months.
Source: Asharq Al-Awsat
