Humanitarian facilities across Sudan’s Blue Nile region are coming under mounting pressure as thousands of people displaced by recent fighting seek shelter in Damazin, Roseires and other areas, a regional aid official said.
Qisma Abdel Karim, the Blue Nile region’s humanitarian aid commissioner, said the humanitarian response was being strained by weak donor funding, rising displacement and the return of Sudanese refugees and migrants from neighbouring South Sudan.
Speaking at a news conference in the regional capital Damazin on Thursday, Abdel Karim said 12 main displacement camps were currently receiving people uprooted by the conflict.
She said 10 of the main shelters were located in Damazin, while displaced families were also being accommodated at several sites in Roseires, including temporary centres established inside schools. The figures provided by the commissioner appeared to overlap between permanent camps and temporary shelters.
Abdel Karim said civilians remained stranded in several areas affected by fighting, particularly Kurmuk, Geissan and Bau, with humanitarian needs differing according to their location and access to assistance.
Services previously provided to people displaced from Kurmuk have been transferred to the Al-Karama 3 camp, she said. Aid agencies and authorities were also supplying food and shelter materials to displaced residents who remained in villages in the area.
People who fled Geissan are currently sheltering in Roseires, including at schools such as Al-Mukhtar School, as well as in Wad al-Mahi and displacement camps around Damazin, according to the commissioner.
She said the regional aid commission was coordinating with humanitarian organisations and local authorities to deliver assistance to displaced people and communities affected by the conflict.
However, Abdel Karim warned that declining donor support remained one of the biggest obstacles facing relief operations as the number of displaced people and returnees from South Sudan continued to rise.
Local communities hosting displaced families have also suffered significant damage and are increasingly struggling to absorb the additional pressure, she said.
Blue Nile has witnessed heavy fighting between the Sudanese army and allied forces on one side and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North and its Rapid Support Forces allies on the other.
The most intense clashes have centred on Geissan and Kurmuk, which SPLM-N and RSF forces captured in August.
The fighting has forced thousands of civilians to flee toward Damazin and other towns across the region, adding to already severe humanitarian needs among displaced families and host communities.
