Showing posts with label North Darfur. Show all posts
Showing posts with label North Darfur. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 13, 2025

Sudan: Starving children dying. Rare footage shows plight of civilians in besieged El Fasher, North Darfur

INTERNATIONAL NGOs working in Sudan issued an urgent statement this week declaring that "sustained attacks, obstruction of aid and targeting of critical infrastructure demonstrate a deliberate strategy to break the civilian population through hunger, fear, and exhaustion".


They said that "anecdotal reports of recent food hoarding for military use add to the suffering of civilians". Read more in the following report.


From BBC News
By Barbara Plett Usher
Africa correspondent, BBC News
Dated Wednesday, 13 August 2025 - full copy:

 'Our children are dying' - rare footage shows plight of civilians in besieged Sudan city

01:23

Media caption,

WATCH: BBC obtains rare video from inside besieged el-Fasher in Sudan


The women at the community kitchen in the besieged Sudanese city of el-Fasher are sitting in huddles of desperation.


"Our children are dying before our eyes," one of them tells the BBC.


"We don't know what to do. They are innocent. They have nothing to do with the army or [its paramilitary rival] the Rapid Support Forces. Our suffering is worse than what you can imagine."


Food is so scarce in el-Fasher that prices have soared to the point where money that used to cover a week's worth of meals can now buy only one. International aid organisations have condemned the "calculated use of starvation as a weapon of war".


The BBC has obtained rare footage of people still trapped in the city, sent to us by a local activist and filmed by a freelance cameraman.


The Sudanese army has been battling the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) for more than two years after their commanders jointly staged a coup, and then fell out.


El-Fasher, in the western Darfur region, is one of the most brutal frontlines in the conflict.

Image caption, This may be the only meal these children get for a day


The hunger crisis is compounded by a surge of cholera sweeping through the squalid camps of those displaced by the fighting, which escalated this week into one of the most intense RSF attacks on the city yet.


The paramilitaries tightened their 14-month blockade after losing control of the capital Khartoum earlier this year, and stepped up their battle for el-Fasher, the last foothold of the armed forces in Darfur.


In the north and centre of the country where the army has wrestled back territory from the RSF, food and medical aid have begun to make a dent in civilian suffering.


But the situation is desperate in the conflict zones of western and southern Sudan.


At the Matbakh-al-Khair communal kitchen in el-Fasher late last month, volunteers turned ambaz into a porridge. This is the residue of peanuts after the oil has been extracted, normally fed to animals.


Sometimes it is possible to find sorghum or millet but on the day of filming, the kitchen manager says: "There is no flour or bread."


"Now we've reached the point of eating ambaz. May God relieve us of this calamity, there's nothing left in the market to buy," he adds.


The UN has amplified its appeal for a humanitarian pause to allow food convoys into the city, with its Sudan envoy Sheldon Yett once more demanding this week that the warring sides observe their obligations under international law.


The army has given clearance for the trucks to proceed but the UN is still waiting for official word from the paramilitary group.


RSF advisers have said they believed the truce would be used to facilitate the delivery of food and ammunition to the army's "besieged militias" inside el-Fasher.


They have also claimed the paramilitary group and its allies were setting up "safe routes" for civilians to leave the city.


Local responders in el-Fasher can receive some emergency cash via a digital banking system, but it does not go very far.


"The prices in the markets have exploded," says Mathilde Vu, advocacy manager for the Norwegian Refugee Council.


"Today, $5,000 [£3,680] covers one meal for 1,500 people in a single day. Three months ago, the same amount could feed them for an entire week."


Doctors say people are dying of malnutrition. It is impossible to know how many - one report quoting a regional health official put the number at more than 60 last week.

BBC "The situation, it is so miserable, it is so catastrophic" -Ibrahim Abdullah Khater, Paediatrician


Hospitals cannot cope. Few are still operating. They have been damaged by shelling and are short of medical supplies to help both the starving, and those injured in the continual bombardment.


"We have many malnourished children admitted in hospital but unfortunately there is no single sachet of [therapeutic food]," says Dr Ibrahim Abdullah Khater, a paediatrician at the Al Saudi Hospital, noting that the five severely malnourished children currently in the ward also have medical complications.


"They are just waiting for their death," he says.


When hunger crises hit, those who usually die first are the most vulnerable, the least healthy or those suffering from pre-existing conditions.


"The situation, it is so miserable, it is so catastrophic," the doctor tells us in a voice message.


"The children of el-Fasher are dying on a daily basis due to lack of food, lack of medicine. Unfortunately, the international community is just watching."


International non-governmental organisations working in Sudan issued an urgent statement, external this week declaring that "sustained attacks, obstruction of aid and targeting of critical infrastructure demonstrate a deliberate strategy to break the civilian population through hunger, fear, and exhaustion".


They said that "anecdotal reports of recent food hoarding for military use add to the suffering of civilians".


"There is no safe passage out of the city, with roads blocked and those attempting to flee facing attacks, taxation at checkpoints, community-based discrimination and death," the organisations said.


Hundreds of thousands of people did flee in recent months, many from the Zamzam displaced persons camp at the edge of el-Fasher, seized by the RSF in April.


They arrive in Tawila, a town 60km (37 miles) west of the city, weak and dehydrated, with accounts of violence and extortion along the road from RSF-allied groups.


Life is safer in the crowded camps, but they are stalked by disease - most deadly of all: cholera.


It is caused by polluted water and has killed hundreds in Sudan, triggered by the destruction of water infrastructure and lack of food and medical care, and made worse by flooding due to the rainy season.

Image caption, Makeshift centres have been built to treat patients who have cholera


Unlike el-Fasher, in Tawila aid workers at least have access, but their supplies are limited, says John Joseph Ocheibi, the on-site project coordinator for a group called The Alliance for International Medical Action.


"We have shortages in terms of [washing facilities], in terms of medical supplies, to be able to deal with this situation," he tells the BBC. "We are mobilizing resources to see how best we can be able to respond."


Sylvain Penicaud of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) estimates there are only three litres of water per person per day in the camps, which, he says, is "way below the basic need, and forces people to get water from contaminated sources".


Zubaida Ismail Ishaq is lying in the tent clinic. She is seven months pregnant, gaunt and exhausted. Her story is a tale of trauma told by many.


She tells us she used to trade when she had a little money, before fleeing el-Fasher.


Her husband was captured by armed men on the road to Tawila. Her daughter has a head injury.


Zubaida and her mother came down with cholera shortly after arriving in the camp.


"We drink water without boiling it," she says. "We have no-one to get us water. Since coming here, I have nothing left."


Back in el-Fasher we hear appeals for help from the women clustered at the soup kitchen - any kind of help.


"We're exhausted. We want this siege lifted," says Faiza Abkar Mohammed. "Even if they airdrop food, airdrop anything - we're completely exhausted."


Sudan war: A simple guide to what is happening


You may also be interested in:

'I lost a baby and then rescued a child dodging air strikes in Sudan's civil war'
Oil-rich Sudanese region becomes new focus of war between army and rival forces
Sudan in danger of self-destructing as conflict and famine reign


View original: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czxp0qyn6dqo


End

Sunday, August 03, 2025

Meetings of UN Security Council on Sudan & S. Sudan

IN August, Panama will hold the presidency of the Security Council.


The Week Ahead at the UN Security Council

IN FOCUS THIS WEEK

4-8 August 2025


Sudan

Monday (4 August)

Closed consultations on Sudan. The meeting was requested by Denmark and the UK (the penholder on the file) to receive an update on the humanitarian and political situations in the country, specifically in light of the recent escalation of violence in North Darfur state and the Kordofan region. Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General for Sudan Ramtane Lamamra and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk are expected to brief.


Full story: Security Council Report

https://securitycouncilreport.cmail19.com/t/r-e-tklidlhd-yklkuldrhk-p/

___


Sudan

Expected Council Action (July 2025)

In July, the Security Council is expected to receive the semi-annual briefing on the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) activities related to the situation in Darfur. ICC Deputy Prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan is expected to brief.

Full story: Security Council Report

https://www.securitycouncilreport.org/monthly-forecast/2025-07/sudan-36.php

___


Sudan 

Status Update since our July Forecast (30 July 2025)

On 10 July, the Council held its semi-annual briefing on the International Criminal Court (ICC)’s Darfur-related activities (S/PV.9955). ICC Deputy Prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan briefed. Sudan participated in the meeting under rule 37 of the Council’s provisional rules of procedure.

Full story: Security Council Report

https://www.securitycouncilreport.org/monthly-forecast/2025-08/status-update-since-our-july-forecast-6.php

________________


South Sudan

Expected Council Action (August 2025)

In August, the Security Council will hold a briefing, followed by consultations, on the situation in South Sudan. Special Representative and Head of the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) Nicholas Haysom will brief on the Secretary-General’s 90-day report on South Sudan and developments in the country.

The mandate of UNMISS expires on 30 April 2026.

Full story:

https://www.securitycouncilreport.org/monthly-forecast/2025-08/south-sudan-35.php

Download Complete Forecast: PDF


https://www.securitycouncilreport.org/atf/cf/%7B65BFCF9B-6D27-4E9C-8CD3-CF6E4FF96FF9%7D/2025_08_forecast.pdf

____________


End

Wednesday, July 16, 2025

Sudan: ICC believes war crimes & crimes against humanity are taking place now in Darfur. 5 killed in aid convoy attack. Fighting intensifies in Kordofan

ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan told the Security Council in January that there were grounds to believe both government forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Force, may be committing war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide in Darfur. 

Deputy prosecutor Shameem Khan, who is not related, said the ICC has closely tracked reports in recent weeks of the dire situation in North Darfur, whose capital El Fasher is besieged by RSF and their affiliates.


The RSF, which controls the capitals of all other states in Darfur, has also attacked famine-hit Zamzam and other camps for displaced Sudanese in North Darfur.


“On the basis of our independent investigations, the position of our office is clear, we have reasonable grounds to believe that war crimes and crimes against humanity have been and are continuing to be committed in Darfur,” Khan told the council.


This conclusion, she said, is based on documentary, testimonial and digital evidence collected by ICC investigators during the past six months, including at refugee camps in neighboring Chad. Over 7,000 items of evidence have been collected to date, she said.


Khan emphasized to the council and to victims that the ICC considers the situation in Darfur “of the utmost importance” and will not be deterred until justice is delivered to the perpetrators.


Khan said those in Darfur now “inflicting unimaginable atrocities on its population” should know that while they may feel a sense of impunity, Janjaweed leader Ali Kushayb is currently on trial and the ICC hopes it will be the first of many.


“However, we also have a duty of confidentiality to the court,” Khan said. “I am not able to share more details of the nature of our progress or of specific outcomes hoped for. I can only assure you that the progress we have made is concrete, positive and significant.”


Read more in this report from The Associated Press
BY EDITH M. LEDERER
Dated 11 July 2025; 12:22 AM BST - full copy:

ICC believes war crimes and crimes against humanity are taking place now in Sudan’s Darfur region

The United Nations flag flies on a stormy day at the U.N. during the United Nations General Assembly, Sept. 22, 2022. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey, File)

This June 2023 photo provided by the World Food Program shows internally displaced persons at the Wad Almajzoub farm camp in Wad Medani, Gezira state, Sudan. (Ala Kheir/U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs via AP)


UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The International Criminal Court believes war crimes and crimes against humanity are continuing to take place in Sudan’s vast western Darfur region where civil war has raged for more than two years, the tribunal’s deputy prosecutor said Thursday.


Nazhat Shameem Khan told the U.N. Security Council that the depth of suffering and the humanitarian crisis in Darfur “has reached an intolerable state,” with famine escalating and hospitals, humanitarian convoys and other civilian infrastructure being targeted.


“People are being deprived of water and food,” she said. “Rape and sexual violence are being weaponized. Abductions for ransom or to bolster the ranks of armed groups have become common practice.”


“And yet we should not be under any illusion,” Shameem Khan warned the U.N.’s most powerful body. “Things can still get worse.”


Sudan plunged into conflict in mid-April 2023, when long-simmering tensions between its military and paramilitary leaders broke out in the capital, Khartoum, and spread to other regions, including Darfur. Some 40,000 people have been killed and nearly 13 million displaced, including to other countries, according to U.N. agencies.


ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan told the Security Council in January that there were grounds to believe both government forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Force, may be committing war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide in Darfur.


The Biden administration, just before it left office in January, determined that the RSF and its proxies were committing genocide.


Karim Khan has stepped down temporarily as the ICC chief prosecutor pending the outcome of an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct, which he categorically denies.


Deputy prosecutor Shameem Khan, who is not related, said the ICC has closely tracked reports in recent weeks of the dire situation in North Darfur, whose capital El Fasher is besieged by RSF and their affiliates.


The RSF, which controls the capitals of all other states in Darfur, has also attacked famine-hit Zamzam and other camps for displaced Sudanese in North Darfur.


“On the basis of our independent investigations, the position of our office is clear, we have reasonable grounds to believe that war crimes and crimes against humanity have been and are continuing to be committed in Darfur,” Khan told the council.


This conclusion, she said, is based on documentary, testimonial and digital evidence collected by ICC investigators during the past six months, including at refugee camps in neighboring Chad. Over 7,000 items of evidence have been collected to date, she said.


Khan emphasized to the council and to victims that the ICC considers the situation in Darfur “of the utmost importance” and will not be deterred until justice is delivered to the perpetrators.


Two decades ago, Darfur became synonymous with genocide and war crimes, particularly by the notorious Janjaweed Arab militias, against populations that identify as Central or East African. Up to 300,000 people were killed and 2.7 million were driven from their homes.


Khan said those in Darfur now “inflicting unimaginable atrocities on its population” should know that while they may feel a sense of impunity, Janjaweed leader Ali Kushayb is currently on trial and the ICC hopes it will be the first of many.


“However, we also have a duty of confidentiality to the court,” Khan said. “I am not able to share more details of the nature of our progress or of specific outcomes hoped for. I can only assure you that the progress we have made is concrete, positive and significant.”


Related reports

Fighting intensifies in Sudan's Kordofan region

Full story: https://apnews.com/article/sudan-kordofan-rapid-support-forces-humanitarian-crisis-574e767ae69562ab05d6a9d2e5bee1b5

__________


An attack on an aid convoy in Sudan's Darfur region kills 5, UN says

Full story: https://apnews.com/article/sudan-war-military-rsf-darfur-3403f58cde929bea2cc0a0036985da05

__________


Sudanese fleeing war are at risk of worsening hunger, UN warns

Full story: https://apnews.com/article/sudan-famine-hunger-refugees-un-darfur-conflict-bc3cc8260e92191078506849796f4072

__________


View original: https://apnews.com/article/sudan-darfur-icc-war-crimes-humanity-khan-e54744adc5b0a06eb6a44fe94d72683d


End