Sudan: Areas of immediate humanitarian concern are Al Fasher N Darfur, River Nile, Wad Medani Aj Jazirah

SUDAN 

Areas of immediate humanitarian concern

Flash Update No: 01, as of Monday, 18 December 2023 

Source: OCHA 

SITUATION OVERVIEW

Situation in Al Fasher, North Darfur State
On 16 December 2023, clashes renewed between SAF and RSF in Al Fasher Town of Al Fasher locality, North Darfur. As a result of the violence, the DTM reported three individuals were reportedly killed, and 10 others were injured. It was also reported that approximately 750 people have been displaced. Affected residents have been displaced from Abu Shock and Al Salam IDP camps to eastern neighborhoods within Al Fasher Town. Personal and commercial property was reportedly burnt and looted. The situation remains tense and unpredictable.

Situation in River Nile State
On 17 December, the authorities in River Nile State issued a decision to close the Nile crossings and bridges at 22.00 hours to 06.00 hours. These include nightly closure of the Umm Al-Tuyour and Al-Bashir bridges which constitute Nile crossing points for movement between the River Nile State and the Northern and Khartoum states.

Following RSF’s attack and looting of the Sudanese Police Force Station at Umm Shadida, in Shendi locality there have been increased fears of possible assaults on Atbara or Ed Damer due to their strategic connection with the rest of Sudan including eastern Sudan and Northern State.

Situation in Wad Medani, Aj Jazirah State
For information regarding the situation in Wad Medani please refer to our latest flash update: Sudan: Clashes in Wad Madani between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) - Flash Update No: 03 (as of 18 December 2023)

Background

After years of protracted crisis, Sudan plunged into a conflict of alarming scale in mid-April 2023 when fighting between SAF and RSF, broke out initially in the capital Khartoum on April 15, and quickly expanded to other areas across the country. Khartoum has been the site of heavy fighting, while severe violent clashes and heavy bombardments have also been reported in the greater Darfur and Kordofan regions. The hostilities have resulted in extensive damage to critical infrastructure and facilities, including water and healthcare, the collapse of banking and financial services, frequent interruptions to electricity supply and telecommunication services and widespread looting. Since the conflict broke out, humanitarian needs have increased and almost 25 million people now require assistance in Sudan. More than 6.7 million people have been forced to leave their homes in search of safety elsewhere.

An estimated three million people live in North Darfur State. 2.7 people need humanitarian assistance. Since April 15, nearly 446,000 people are displaced in North Darfur with about 86 per cent displaced from within the State. 147,000 of those are in Al Fasher town. About 966,000 people are in crisis (IPC 3) and above levels of food security in the state with 335,000 in Al Fasher between October 2023 and February 2024, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC). There are ten humanitarian organizations working in the state, including one INGO and nine NNGOs. So far this year humanitarian organizations have reached 383,000 people in the State with food assistance, WASH, health and other humanitarian interventions.

An estimated two million people live in River Nile State, 636,000 people need humanitarian assistance. Since April 15, nearly 616,000 people fled to River Nile State, 94,000 of those are in Atbara. About 247,000 people are in crisis (IPC 3) and above levels of food security in the state with 27,000 in Atbara between October 2023 and February 2024, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC). There are 16 humanitarian organizations working in the state, including four INGOs, seven NNGOs and five UN agencies. So far this year humanitarian organizations have reached 201,000 people in the State with food assistance, WASH, health and other humanitarian interventions.
 
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For more information, please contact: Sofie Karlsson, Head of Communications and Analysis, OCHA Sudan, karlsson2@un.org, Mob: +249 (0)912 174 456

Download the Flash Update here

Related Content

Sudan: Clashes in Wad Madani between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) - Flash Update No: 03 (as of 18 December 2023)

View original: https://reliefweb.int/report/sudan/sudan-areas-immediate-humanitarian-concern-flash-update-no-01-18-december-2023

END

Sudan: Minawi is in Fasher, Darfur, redeploys troops

NOTE from Sudan Watch Ed: I wrote about this today but deleted. Not sure how I can keep this up. Bad guys are depressing. Amazed Minawi's still alive.

Report from Radio Dabanga

Dated Tuesday 09 May 2023

Darfur update: Minawi is back in El Fasher and redeploys troops, cautious calm in Nyala

EL FASHER / NYALA – May 9, 2023

Governor of the Darfur Region Minni Minawi arrived back in Darfur yesterday [Mon May 8] after failed negotiations and redeployed his troops in the region. In South Darfur capital Nyala, residents have fled to Southern neighbourhoods amidst rumours of imminent attacks. Yet, the situation remains cautiously calm for now.

The Darfur region authorities said in a press statement yesterday that Minawi left the capital for El Fasher yesterday, despite the critical security conditions, after efforts to stop the war and alleviate the difficult humanitarian situation in Khartoum and other Sudanese cities failed.

Minawi is also the leader of a Sudan Liberation Movement breakaway faction (SLM-MM), who signed the Juba Peace Agreement (JPA) alongside other rebel movements, and a member of the FFC-Democratic Block, a split-off faction of the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) that contains many former rebel movement leaders.

According to the statement, Minawi “sought with his comrades of the Juba Peace Agreement Block to stop the absurd war and to invite the warring parties to meet for an intra-Sudanese dialogue to resolve all national issues peacefully through dialogue, but the conditions in the country prevented that”.

In a press conference after his arrival in El Fasher, capital of North Darfur, Minawi said: “I do not support either of the two parties to the conflict.” “Our good offices in the Peace [JPA] and Democratic Blocks will continue to attempt to stop the damned war in the country”.

Minawi’s troops in Darfur

Various Sudanese news outlets just reported that Minawi ordered his troops to Darfur without saying where exactly or why.

Minawi’s SLM forces have a military presence in the Sudanese capital according to an October 2020 peace agreement with the government and have so far taken a neutral position in the conflict between the RSF and SAF.

The 300 heavily armed military vehicles that Minawi took with him to Darfur had been stationed in northern Omdurman “to protect the SLM-MM leaders” after signing the peace agreement.

The redeployment of Minawi’s forces in Darfur comes at a time of fears of intercommunal clashes and of a revival of the tribal and political tensions that underpinned the Darfur civil war and led to [alleged] genocide.

Cautious calm in Nyala

The capital of South Darfur is witnessing a cautious calm, although sounds of gunfire from light and medium weapons continue from time to time for unknown reasons, Radio Dabanga’s correspondent reported from the city.

Clashes between the RSF and SAF broke out in Nyala over the weekend.

“The sounds of ammunition have become an obsession for the people, especially women and children,” the correspondent said. Some sources suggested that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) sometimes shoot from the fortifications they have set up in the city.

Many residents of Nyala, especially from the northern parts of the city, left their homes to seek safety in the southern neighbourhoods in the past two days after rumours of imminent battles. Other families left Nyala altogether and sought refuge in the areas of El Salam, Ed El Fursan, Rahed El Bardi, Buram, and Gereida.

“The markets in Nyala are clearly affected by the violence as a large number of merchants closed their shops out of fear of the thefts and looting that accompany the battles between army soldiers and elements of the RSF,” especially in Darfur.

Nyala has witnessed significant looting since clashes between the RSF and SAF started. Local residents formed popular initiatives to secure their neighbourhoods, including barricading the streets.

Residents have reported that militia gangs are looting and mugging residents whilst staying in RSF camps and enjoying their protection.

Doctor Selma Takana, the representative of the director of the South Darfur branch of the National Health Insurance Fund, reported that 16 of the fund’s vehicles were stolen. Three health centres inside the university, the radiology department, and laboratories were severely damaged.

The Yashfeen Diagnostic Complex was also plundered and most of its medicines were stolen.

Shortages

The prices of consumer goods in the city are steadily rising, day after day.

“The prices are rapidly rising because of scarcity as there are no more lorries coming from Khartoum with supplies. The people also suffer from a great lack of liquidity because the banks are closed, which exacerbates the living crisis day after day,” the correspondent explained.

The South Darfur Community Initiative is making continuous efforts to bring in a commercial convoy that has been stuck between Nyala and El Fasher since the outbreak of the war on April 15.

The Initiative is seeking sufficient guarantees from both the army and the RSF to safely open the banks and normalise life again in Nyala, which is the largest commercial hub in the west of the country.

Despite the lack of cash and scarcity of goods, South Darfur is managing to keep some of its health services running.

The South Darfur Health Ministry announced that the medicines currently still available can cover the state’s needs for a month.

Director of the Ministry Rehab Fatehelrahman said in a briefing to the state’s Humanitarian Situation Committee, headed by West Darfur Governor Hamid El Tijani Hanoun, that the work in the Nyala Teaching Hospital, the Specialists Hospital, the Turkish Hospital, the Italian Hospital, the Police Hospital, and the Medical Corps has continued since the beginning of the war.

She also confirmed that efforts are being made to deliver quantities of medicine to Nyala that got stuck on the way.

Doctor Takana confirmed the stability of work in most of the National Health Insurance Fund centres in the 21 localities of South Darfur and reassured the state committee that there are medicines available to the National Health Insurance Fund that will contribute to covering the shortages in the hospitals. 

The health insurance centres, however, suffer from management problems. The salaries of the staff have been delayed.

Takana further said that activists in the neighbourhoods are exerting efforts to operate the El Wadi and the El Sad El Ali health centres.

El Fasher robbery

El Fasher also witness looting and theft and precarious healthcare conditions.

Passengers of a transport vehicle were subjected to an armed robbery in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, on Sunday evening.

One of the passengers told Radio Dabanga that the gunmen fired in the air and forced the passengers to get out of the car at gunpoint before robbing them of their belongings and stealing the vehicle’s fuel.

A number of residents have called on the North Darfur government and the Mediation Committee of Elders to intervene and resolve the deteriorating security situation in the city since the beginning of the fighting between the army and the RSF in the country.

The residents of El Fasher also suffer from frequent and long power outages, one of them told Radio Dabanga. “The electric current is cut off from six in the morning with a fluctuating return at night. This crisis will worsen in the coming days because of the lack of fuel trucks to feed the electricity generators”.

He added that the continuous power outages greatly affect the performance of hospitals and health centres and other important sectors in the city.

View original: https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/darfur-update-minawi-back-in-el-fasher-cautious-calm-in-nyala-theft-continues

Security situation in Darfur 12 April 2010 - 4 UNAMID South African peacekeepers missing nr Nyala, S. Darfur, W. Sudan

Darfur/UNAMID Daily Media Brief 2010-04-12
From United Nations – African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID)
EL FASHER (DARFUR), Sudan, Tuesday, April 13, 2010/APO:

Security situation in Darfur
Notwithstanding the fact that four UNAMID peacekeepers remain unaccounted for, the security situation in Darfur remains calm. UNAMID has mobilized its resources in the Nyala region and is working closely with the Government of the Sudan and local authorities in the search for the missing peacekeepers.

UNAMID military forces conducted 58 patrols including routine, short range, long range, night, and Humanitarian escort patrols, covering 45 villages and Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps during the reporting period.

UNAMID police advisors also conducted 58 patrols in villages and IDP camps.

UNAMID leadership joins patrol of IDP camps
UNAMID Joint Special Representative (JSR) Ibrahim Gambari today accompanied UNAMID police as they conducted a patrol of Abu Shouk and Al Salam Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps outside El Fasher, North Darfur. He was accompanied by Deputy Joint Special Representative (DJSR) Mohamed Yonis and Police Commissioner Micheal Fryer.

The delegation visited Community Policing Centres in both camps, as well as polling stations, where IDPs were casting their votes in the country’s first multi-party elections in 24 years.

After speaking to several voters, JSR Gambari remarked “they want to vote, they want to exercise their right to vote. I am very happy that I was here to see them.”

Ghana’s Kufuor visits Darfur as head of AU Election Mission
Former Ghanaian President, John Agyekum Kufuor, and head of the African Union (AU) Liaison Office in Sudan, Ambassador Mahmoud Kane, were received today by UNAMID Joint Special Representative (JSR) Ibrahim Gambari at the Mission’s headquarters in El Fasher, North Darfur.

The Ghanaian statesman is heading a 50-member AU observer team for the first multi-party elections in Sudan since 1986.

Mr. Kufuor and Mr. Kane were briefed by UNAMID senior officials on the current security and situation and the political landscape of Darfur.

“We hope the electoral process will open opportunities for the people of the Sudan and enable them, using democracy [to] work for peace within the borders of this huge country,” Kufuor said.

Other international bodies, such as the Arab League and the Carter Center, have observers on the ground.

Darfur/UNAMID peacekeepers reported missing
From United Nations – African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) via APO:

EL FASHER (DARFUR), Sudan, April 13, 2010 - Four UNAMID peacekeepers have not been seen or heard from in nearly 24 hours. The peacekeepers last movement was reported at 16:00 hrs on 11 April 2010, as they departed their team site just outside of Nyala, South Darfur, on a 7km journey back to their private accommodation.

“There have been no sightings of our staff and we are deeply concerned for their well-being,” said UNAMID Joint Special Representative Ibrahim Gambari, who is in direct contact with Sudanese Government officials over this issue.

UNAMID has mobilized its resources in the region and is working closely with the Government of the Sudan and local authorities in the search for the missing peacekeepers.

Four South African peacekeepers kidnapped in Sudan's Darfur
From English.news.cn 2010-04-13 14:37:29 Editor: Xiong Tong

KHARTOUM, April 13 (Xinhua) -- Four peacekeepers belonging to the United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) have been kidnapped by unknown gunmen in the restive western Sudanese region of Darfur, a UNAMID source told Xinhua on Tuesday.

The anonymous source said the four South African peacekeepers, two male and two female, were stopped by some 10 gunmen when they were driving from their working site to their private accommodation near Nyala, the capital city of the South Darfur state, on Sunday.

The source quoted witnesses as saying that the four policemen were forced to step off their vehicle at gunpoint.

No armed group in Darfur has made contacts with the UNAMID to claim responsibility for the kidnapping, the source noted.

UNAMID spokesman Noureddine Mezni has refused to confirm or deny the kidnapping, noting that the four peacekeepers were reported missing since Sunday.

"I can not confirm or deny this report (of the kidnapping), I have no confirmations on what had happened," the spokesman said on Tuesday.

Fears raised as four AU-UN peacekeepers go missing in Sudan's Darfur region
From UN News Centre - ‎Monday, 12 April 2010
Four peacekeepers serving with the joint African Union-United Nations force in the western Sudanese region of Darfur have not been seen or ...

Red Cross: 8 staff kidnapped in eastern Congo‎
From The Associated Press - Tuesday, 13 April 2010
Three foreign Red Cross workers were kidnapped in the Philippines last year, and French staff members were seized in Chad and Sudan. ...