Children at Risk of Dying in Famine-Hit Darfur as Medical Supplies Are Blocked, Aid Group Says

 Displaced Sudanese people sit at Zamzam camp, in North Darfur, Sudan, August 1, 2024. (Reuters)
Displaced Sudanese people sit at Zamzam camp, in North Darfur, Sudan, August 1, 2024. (Reuters)
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Children at Risk of Dying in Famine-Hit Darfur as Medical Supplies Are Blocked, Aid Group Says

 Displaced Sudanese people sit at Zamzam camp, in North Darfur, Sudan, August 1, 2024. (Reuters)
Displaced Sudanese people sit at Zamzam camp, in North Darfur, Sudan, August 1, 2024. (Reuters)

Malnourished children in a famine-hit camp for war-displaced people in Sudan’s western region of Darfur are at risk of dying, an aid group said Sunday, because it was forced to ration malnutrition treatment due to a blockade imposed by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Doctors Without Borders said the RSF, which have besieged al-Fasher city as part of its war against the Sudanese military, have blocked three trucks carrying lifesaving medical supplies, including therapeutic food, for the city and the nearby Zamzam camp where famine was confirmed last week.

Sudan plunged into chaos in April last year when simmering tensions between the military and the RSF developed into open fighting in the capital, Khartoum, before spreading across the northeastern African country. Darfur saw some of the worst and most devastating bouts of fighting in the war.

The conflict has killed thousands of people and pushed many into starvation. It created the world’s largest displacement crisis with more than 10 million people forced to flee their homes since April 2023, according to the UN migration agency. Over 2 million of those fled to neighboring countries.

International experts in the Famine Review Committee confirmed Thursday that starvation at Zamzam camp, where up to 600,000 people shelter, has grown into full famine.

International experts use set criteria to confirm the existence of famines. A famine is declared in an area when one in five people or households severely lack food and face starvation and destitution that would ultimately lead to critical levels of acute malnutrition and death.

In Zamzam camp, which has swelled with the arrival of new displaced people, many children are in critical condition, Doctors Without Borders said, adding that the malnutrition ward at its field hospital in the camp is overcrowded with a 126% bed occupancy rate.

The group said RSF fighters have blocked the trucks in the town of Kabkabiya for over a month, adding that it was forced to limit the number of children receiving therapeutic food in the overcrowded camp as its stock of medicine covers only two weeks.

“Deliberately obstructing or delaying humanitarian cargo is putting the lives of thousands of children at-risk as they are cut-off from receiving life-saving treatment,” it said on social media platform X.

There was no immediate comment from the RSF.

The RSF has imposed a siege on el-Fasher in its monthslong attempt to take it from the military and its allied rebel groups. The city, the provincial capital of North Darfur, is the last stronghold for the military in the war-torn Darfur region.



Syrian Govt Visits Notorious Al-Hol Camp for First Time Since Kurds Deal

A view of the Al-Hol camp. (AFP file)
A view of the Al-Hol camp. (AFP file)
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Syrian Govt Visits Notorious Al-Hol Camp for First Time Since Kurds Deal

A view of the Al-Hol camp. (AFP file)
A view of the Al-Hol camp. (AFP file)

A Syrian government delegation visited a notorious camp in the Kurdish-administered northeast that hosts families of suspected ISIS group members, the new authorities' first visit, both sides said Saturday.

Kurdish-run camps and prisons in the northeast hold tens of thousands of people, many with alleged or perceived links to ISIS, more than five years after the group’s territorial defeat in Syria.

Kurdish administration official Sheikhmous Ahmed said "a tripartite meeting was held on Saturday in the Al-Hol camp" that included a government delegation, another from the US-led international coalition fighting ISIS, and Kurdish administration members.

Al-Hol is northeast Syria's largest camp, housing some 37,000 people from dozens of countries, including 14,500 Iraqis, in dire conditions.

Discussions involved "establishing a mechanism for removing Syrian families from Al-Hol camp", Ahmed said.

The visit comes more than two months after interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa and Mazloum Abdi, head of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, agreed to integrate the Kurds' civil and military institutions into the national government.

The deal also involved guaranteeing the return of all Syrians to their hometowns and villages.

No progress has yet been reported on the administration's integration into the new government.

In Damascus, interior ministry spokesperson Noureddine al-Baba told reporters Al-Hol is "part of the agreement" signed by Sharaa and Abdi.

He said the issue requires "a comprehensive societal solution for the families who are victims" of ISIS.

In February, the Kurdish administration said that in coordination with the United Nations, it aimed to empty camps in the northeast of thousands of displaced Syrians and Iraqi refugees, including suspected relatives of extremists, by the end of the year.

Al-Hol includes a high-security section for families of foreign ISIS fighters.

Ahmed said the fate of those families "is linked to the countries that have nationals (in the camp), and to the international coalition", which supported Kurdish-led forces who fought ISIS, detaining its fighters and their relatives.

The Kurds have repeatedly called on countries to repatriate their citizens, but foreign governments have allowed home only a trickle, fearing security threats and a domestic political backlash.

It is unclear who will administer prisons holding thousands of ISIS fighters in the northeast, with Abdi saying in February the new authorities wanted them under Damascus's control.