• Some forced to eat animal feed to survive
• Zamzam camp was the safest place from fighting in North Darfur until recent days when shelling and bombing started with reports of casualties including children

PORT SUDAN, 3 Dec 2024 –Families living in Sudan’s Zamzam refugee camp are resorting to desperate measures like eating one meal a day, with some going as far as eating animal feed to survive after four months of famine.  Children are facing extreme food shortages with 19 months of fighting taking a toll on besieged North Darfur region, Save the Children said.

Sorghum and millet are the preferred meal in the camp which houses 500,000 people, as well as across the region. However, due to high prices families are being forced to eat an animal feed called ambaz, the leftovers from beans and sesame after oil extraction.

Severe water shortages are also hitting families hard across Zamzam with many forced to survive on less than two litres of water a day, against a daily requirement of 20 litres per person. Save the Children is delivering 20,000 litres of water by truck to six gathering points every day, serving over 12,500 people, which at an average of two litres per person is still below what’s needed.

The depletion of stocks of drugs and therapeutic foods is driving extremely high levels of malnutrition in the camp. One of our staff members working in Zamzam said he can see children walking in the camp with visible signs of severe acute malnutrition including wasting, thinning hair, swollen arms, change of skin colour and clear evidence of widespread diarrhoea.

Mohamed Abdiladif, Interim Country Director for Save the Children in Sudan, said:

“Zamzam camp was the safest place from fighting in North Darfur. However, shelling and bombing has been ongoing for the second day now and there are reports of casualties including children.

“The suffering endured by people in this camp is beyond comprehension. Save the Children is calling on parties to the conflict to protect civilians and humanitarian aid workers, to facilitate unimpeded humanitarian access and to uphold the international humanitarian law. We also call the regional and international community to increase the diplomatic pressure and to facilitate a cease fire and to end this conflict as soon as we can.”

Since the conflict started in April 2023, aid agencies have been unable to get supplies to the Darfur region with hunger levels surging. In the past week, the first cargo flight by Save the Children carrying critical drugs and medical supplies arrived in Blue Nile state while World Food Programme’s food aid trucks made it to Zamzam camp, but more is needed to save lives amid a worsening humanitarian crisis.

In addition, the risk of disease outbreaks is increasing by the day as the overcrowding in the camp and deteriorating hygiene levels put many families and children at risk.

“One school in the camp is accommodating over 700 families leading to overcrowding and creating a fertile ground for the spread of communicable diseases.  Additionally, hundreds of families are sharing a single toilet, creating a hygiene nightmare. The situation is similar in other locations where schools have been converted to shelters,” said Jamal*, a Save the Children child protection officer working in Zamzam.

Save the Children is calling on all parties to conflict to protect civilian areas such as displacement shelters, including Zamzam camp, and immediately halt fighting around El Fasher and Zamzam camp that put civilians at risk. The aid agency is also calling on the warring parties to protect humanitarian workers and assets and remove all obstacles to the sustained, timely, effective and principled delivery of humanitarian assistance to all that urgently need it, including through both cross-border and crossline entry points. This includes the opening of safe passage for food, medical aid, and medical, humanitarian and commercial supplies, particularly in Zamzam.

As a Penholder on Sudan at the UN Security Council, the UK has a key role to play in keeping Sudan high on the political agenda and to pressure the warring parties to cease attacks on civilians. The Foreign Secretary and Development Minister must also show leadership on both humanitarian access and funding to build global momentum and unlock much faster action from the international community.  

Save the Children is delivering 20,000 litres of water daily by truck to six gathering points serving just over 12,500 people, half of them children. We are also providing mobile health clinics complementing efforts of the two health facilities providing medical services in the camp. We are providing cash donations to families to meet their basic human needs.

Save the Children has worked in Sudan since 1983 and is currently supporting children and their families across Sudan providing health, nutrition, education, child protection and food security and livelihoods support. Save the Children is also supporting refugees from Sudan in Egypt and South Sudan. 

ENDS

With any enquiries please contact: media@savethechildren.org.uk / +44 (0) 7831 650 409