UN humanitarian officials have highlighted the escalating hunger crisis among more than 100,000 displaced people sheltering in camps in the city of El Obeid, Sudan. Abdallah Alwardat, Sudan Country Director for the World Food Programme (WFP), reported that although the agency provides food assistance to these populations, the rations are reduced and shared among multiple families due to the lack of alternative income sources.

Briefing journalists in Geneva via video from Kosti, south of Khartoum, Alwardat described the dire situation on the ground. He emphasized the need to scale up aid beyond the current 100,000 people supported and noted that WFP also provides nutrition support to 17,000 children living in the camps.

UN human rights chief Volker Türk has warned that civilians in El Obeid have been under siege for 18 months, enduring continuous drone strikes amid fears of an impending paramilitary offensive. Despite the ongoing conflict between Sudan’s rival militaries—the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF)—Alwardat noted that he did not observe military operations during his several-hour drive from Kosti to El Obeid, approximately 350 to 400 kilometers away.

The conflict, which erupted over three years ago following the collapse of Sudan’s transition to civilian rule, has uprooted more than 14 million people nationwide. Both SAF and RSF have been implicated in serious human rights violations.

Alwardat recounted meeting an elderly woman entirely dependent on UN food rations, who was concerned about how to carry the food back to her tent, illustrating the profound hardships faced by displaced families.

Sources