{"id":55377,"date":"2025-10-07T01:11:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-06T22:11:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/?p=55377"},"modified":"2025-10-07T01:11:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-06T22:11:09","slug":"sudanese-civilians-survive-on-tree-leaves-as-food-runs-out-in-besieged-cities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/07\/sudanese-civilians-survive-on-tree-leaves-as-food-runs-out-in-besieged-cities\/","title":{"rendered":"Sudanese Civilians Survive on Tree Leaves as Food Runs Out in Besieged Cities"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sudan Events \u2013 Agencies<\/strong><\/p>\n

Desperate Sudanese civilians trapped amid fierce fighting between the army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are struggling to survive in besieged cities across western Sudan, where no aid has reached for months and food has virtually disappeared.<\/p>\n

Now entering its third year, the war in Sudan has killed tens of thousands and created a famine threatening millions. Entire populations are cut off in cities under RSF siege, deprived of food, medicine, and basic services, as diseases spread unchecked.<\/p>\n

The Agence France-Presse (AFP) spoke with residents in three major cities currently encircled by the RSF \u2014 El Fasher in North Darfur, Kadugli, and Dilling in South Kordofan \u2014 where civilians recount scenes of devastation and hunger.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything Has Disappeared\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIn El Fasher, shelling goes on all day, so most of the time we stay in the shelters we dug near our homes,\u201d said Omar Adam, who fled Abu Shouk Camp on the city\u2019s outskirts to the Al-Daraja neighborhood. Residents have resorted to digging shallow shelters in open spaces and in front of their houses for protection from bombardments.<\/p>\n

In recent months, the RSF has intensified attacks on army-held positions in western and southern Sudan, after the army regained control of key cities in central and eastern regions.<\/p>\n

The RSF has laid siege to El Fasher for over 500 days, trapping an estimated 260,000 civilians \u2014 half of them children \u2014 in a city where humanitarian aid has almost completely ceased, according to the UN.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything has disappeared, even ambaz,\u201d Adam said, referring to a type of animal fodder made from sesame and peanut husks. \u201cIt\u2019s too expensive and unsafe to leave the city now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last week, UN humanitarian coordinator Denise Brown reported accounts of \u201cunlawful killings, kidnappings, and arbitrary arrests\u201d of civilians attempting to flee El Fasher.<\/p>\n

Satellite images analyzed by Yale University\u2019s Humanitarian Research Lab revealed that the RSF has built a 68-kilometer-long wall encircling the city, leaving only one exit \u2014 where civilians are reportedly extorted to pass through.<\/p>\n

Halima Issa, a mother of three who lost her husband to artillery fire, said her family now relies entirely on a communal kitchen, known locally as Al-Takiya, which provides free meals to residents.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the Takiya stops, we don\u2019t eat,\u201d she said. \u201cIf one of the children falls sick, there\u2019s no treatment.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the El Fasher Resistance Committees, the price of a single sack of ambaz has exceeded 2 million Sudanese pounds (about $600 USD), an impossible sum for most families.<\/p>\n

At El Fasher Hospital, one of the few medical facilities still functioning after widespread destruction of the city\u2019s health infrastructure, a doctor who requested anonymity described a desperate situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are no medicines left \u2014 even gauze is gone,\u201d he said. \u201cWe now use mosquito nets to wrap wounds, and it\u2019s nearly impossible to sterilize tools for surgeries or remove shrapnel without disinfectants.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Resistance Committees described the city as \u201can open morgue, bleeding from every direction.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a statement this week, they said: \u201cShells rain down like water, leaving bodies pulled from under the rubble \u2014 no names, no faces. Just numbers in a long record of massacres.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hunger in South Kordofan<\/strong><\/p>\n

In South Kordofan, the RSF\u2019s siege of Kadugli has left residents surviving on a single meager meal per day \u2014 or none at all.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes we have no food for days, so we eat tree leaves and wild plants,\u201d said Hajer Juma, 28.<\/p>\n

Hassan Ahmed, a volunteer doctor at a children\u2019s hospital, said: \u201cPeople die in front of us every day \u2014 deaths that could have been easily prevented under normal circumstances. There are no medicines, and pharmacies are almost empty.\u201d<\/p>\n

The UNICEF warned that 63,000 children in South Kordofan are suffering from severe acute malnutrition.<\/p>\n

The RSF and its allied militias have also encircled Dilling, another key city in the region.<\/p>\n

\u201cPrices double every day \u2014 no family can keep up,\u201d said Mujahid Musa, a 22-year-old resident. \u201cMany are fleeing the city, only to end up displaced in nearby villages.\u201d<\/p>\n

Relief volunteer Sadiq Issa reported that \u201csecurity forces\u201d \u2014 referring to the army \u2014 had seized a shipment of UNICEF-provided nutritional biscuits and sold them on the black market.<\/p>\n

He and other witnesses also accused the army of withholding aid sent by the World Food Programme, preventing it from reaching the most vulnerable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sudan Events \u2013 Agencies Desperate Sudanese civilians trapped amid fierce fighting between the army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are struggling to survive in besieged cities across western Sudan, where no aid has reached for months and food has virtually disappeared. Now entering its third year, the war in Sudan has killed tens of …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":31214,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55377","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55377"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55377\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55378,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55377\/revisions\/55378"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}