SUDAN WATCH: Omdurman 11 miles from Khartoum is 'uninhabitable' amid its sanitary crisis and a total service collapse

NOTE from Sudan Watch Editor: Further to a 12 July 2024 post at Sudan Watch titled Sudan's police order all foreigners to leave Khartoum & surrounding region, the following report describes Sudan's Omdurman locality as 'uninhabitable' amid its sanitary crisis and total service collapse.

Omdurman is in the "surrounding region". The distance between Khartoum and Omdurman is 11.1 miles, a 14-minute drive in light traffic. Why has Sudan's Ministry for Health allowed Omdurman to fester and not mobilised people to respectfully identify and bury the dead and clean up the area?

Maybe here's why. Around a week ago, the Sudanese authorities gave "foreigners" two weeks to leave Khartoum and surrounding region. It seems likely that the SAF plans to attack the region to rid it of RSF and supporters.

Dear God bless and help Sudan and her people, they need to be free of war.

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Report from Dabanga Online English
Dated Monday, 15 July 2024 21:11 OMBADDA. Here is a copy, in full:

Omdurman locality ‘uninhabitable’ amid sanitary crisis and total service collapse

Stagnant water in the streets of Ombadda, a breeding ground for insects and waterborne illnesses

(Photo: Ombadda El Amir Emergency Room via Facebook)

The Ombadda El Amir Emergency Room said that the Ombadda Block 5 neighbourhood in Omdurman, sister city to the capital Khartoum, is currently uninhabitable due to the presence of decomposing corpses in streets and in homes a complete lack of services.

In a statement on its Facebook page, the Emergency Room indicated that there are no remaining functional markets, hospitals, or medical centres in Ombadda Block 5. Charity kitchens and hospices have also been relocated to Ombadda Block 2.

The streets of Ombadda are covered with litter

(Photo: Ombadda El Amir Emergency Room via Facebook)

“Waste is widespread, and plundered homes have become breeding grounds for dirt, filth, and a gathering place for rodents and insects. Several corpses have left waste traces after decomposition, making the environment unsanitary. The area has not been fully evaluated to obtain the necessary environmental information.”

Parts of pipes and water connections have been stolen or broken, resulting in stagnant water in the neighbourhood, a breeding ground for water-borne ilnesses.

Kala-azar* (visceral leishmaniasis) disease was widespread in the neighbourhood when it was populated, according to the statement. Conditions in Ombadda blocks and 6 are similar to those in Ombadda 5, the Emergency Room said, noting that there are no residents left in the area.

There are only two families remaining in Ombadda 5. The emergency room warned that all residents from this area should leave to the safer eastern part of Ombadda 2.

The neighbourhood is divided: the northern and northeastern sections are under the control of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), while the middle section is a friction zone between the SAF and the RSF. Both the SAF and the RSF have imposed sieges on the parts of Ombadda controlled by their rival since October, severely hindering the flow of aids and goods into the area.

Ombadda, a locality primarily inhabited by people who fled previous wars and poverty in Kordofan and Darfur, witnessed heavy fighting on multiple occasions since the outbreak of war in mid-April of last year. On September 5, at least 32 people were killed in a SAF air raid targeting Ombadda Block 21.

Hunger hotspot

Already in March, 240,000 families in Khartoum state were threatened with severe hunger.

Sudan has been highlighted as one of the highest concern “hunger hotspots” in three separate reports published by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the Clingendael Institute of International Relations in the Netherlands, and a joint Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP).

Hunger is deepening in Sudan and in neighbouring countries to which millions of people have fled, creating a hunger crisis that could become the world’s largest.

View original: https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/omdurman-locality-uninhabitable-amid-sanitary-crisis-and-total-service-collapse

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