More than 500 displaced people have reportedly died from hunger and malnutrition in Tawila, North Darfur, as worsening food shortages and collapsing healthcare services threaten hundreds of thousands of civilians, a local official said on Wednesday.
Mohamed Yaqoub, an official at the Tawila displacement camp, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the deaths occurred over a recent, unspecified period as families struggled to obtain enough food to survive.
The reported death toll has not been independently verified.
Yaqoub warned that dwindling humanitarian assistance, shortages of drinking water and inadequate medical services were pushing already vulnerable communities toward further catastrophe.
The latest warning comes as Tawila, approximately 60 kilometres from El Fasher, continues to receive displaced families fleeing conflict, drought and deteriorating living conditions elsewhere in Darfur.
According to the General Coordination of Displaced Persons and Refugees in Darfur, 1,726 families comprising 8,390 people arrived in Tawila between early September and October 12.
The organisation said the latest influx was placing additional pressure on overstretched food supplies, healthcare facilities, sanitation systems and temporary shelters.
Yaqoub also reported that approximately 16,000 displaced people had recently arrived in other parts of Darfur, including Shangil Tobaya, Kutum and Kuma.
Children and pregnant women face growing risks
The humanitarian emergency has been compounded by deteriorating health services, with Yaqoub warning of rising deaths among pregnant women and children.
He said Tawila’s only functioning hospital was struggling with shortages of doctors, medicines and essential medical supplies.
Malnutrition among children is becoming increasingly widespread, while malaria and dengue fever are adding to the pressure on healthcare facilities.
Yaqoub also reported that hundreds of displaced people had died from hunger and dehydration while travelling to shelters elsewhere in Darfur.
He urged international humanitarian organisations to increase food distributions, medical assistance and access to clean drinking water.
UN warns of worsening famine threat
The warnings follow an October 12 alert from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, which identified a growing famine risk across parts of Darfur and Kordofan.
The assessment warned that conflict, mass displacement, drought and inadequate humanitarian funding were driving a worsening food security emergency.
The World Food Programme said in September that it was reducing food rations for approximately 950,000 displaced people sheltering in Tawila because of funding shortages.
Across Sudan, approximately 19.5 million people face acute food insecurity, according to WFP estimates.
Sudan’s war, which erupted in April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, has devastated essential infrastructure, disrupted agricultural production and displaced millions of civilians.
The General Coordination of Displaced Persons and Refugees has called for urgent international intervention, warning that inadequate food, healthcare and shelter could lead to further preventable deaths across Darfur’s displacement camps.
