Sudan’s army controlled government denied on Sunday the existence of famine in North Darfur’s Zamzam camp for internally displaced people, despite an aid group warning of a potential severe shortage of special food designed to treat malnourished children.
On Thursday, a global food monitor reported that famine, characterized by acute malnutrition and high mortality rates, was present in the Zamzam camp and likely to persist until at least October.
Experts and U.N. officials have indicated that a famine classification could lead to a U.N. Security Council resolution allowing agencies to deliver relief across borders to the most needy.
However, Sudanese officials have expressed concerns that a famine declaration could serve as a pretext for international intervention in the country.
The ongoing conflict between General al-Burhan’s army (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has caused the world’s largest internal displacement crisis, leaving 25 million people, or half the population, in urgent need of humanitarian aid.
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) previously reported that a child died every two hours in the camp, which houses half a million people. On Sunday, MSF posted on X that their teams only have enough therapeutic food to treat malnourished children in Zamzam camp for another two weeks.
Sudan’s Federal Humanitarian Aid Commission refuted the famine claims, stating that conditions in the camp did not meet the criteria for declaring a famine.
On Friday, the RSF expressed “full solidarity” with famine victims and reiterated an offer to collaborate with the United Nations to facilitate aid delivery.
