Sudan: 3.9M people food insecure in Khartoum state. Khartoum's partly a ghost town, only 20-30% remain

IN some areas of Khartoum you can see ordinary scenes of life, such as children playing outside and parents going to the market. But the atmosphere remains very tense and extremely anxiety-provoking, even post-apocalyptic. Many buildings have been gutted and looted. There are large numbers of RSF fighters roaming the streets and regularly forming checkpoints. Read more.  

From MSF website 

(Médecins Sans Frontières aka Doctors Without Borders) 

Dated Tuesday, 12 March 2024 - here is a copy in full:

SUDAN: "THE SITUATION REMAINS EXTREMELY DIFFICULT"

The city of Khartoum has been the epicentre of the war in Sudan for many months. While part of the city is now experiencing some respite, the situation remains extremely difficult and precarious for the civilian population who continue to live there. 

We take a look at the situation with Jean-Guy Vataux, who recently returned from Sudan, where he was Head of Mission for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in Khartoum.   

Patients at an MSF clinic in Zamzam camp, currently hosting more than 300,000 internally displaced people. A rapid nutrition and mortality assessment carried out by MSF in Zamzam camp in January 2024 reveals a deadly situation that has unfolded over the past nine months. 

© Mohamed Zakaria

AFTER SEVERAL MONTHS UNDER THE CONTROL OF THE RAPID SUPPORT FORCES (RSF), WHAT IS THE STATE OF THE SUDANESE CAPITAL?  

Khartoum is partly a ghost town. Around 20 to 30 per cent of its population remains. The inhabitants fled en masse. However, some returned after the RSF took control of neighbouring Al Jazirah state in December. As a result, in some areas you can see ordinary scenes of life, such as children playing outside and parents going to the market. But the atmosphere remains very tense and extremely anxiety-provoking, even post-apocalyptic. Many buildings have been gutted and looted. There are large numbers of RSF fighters roaming the streets and regularly forming checkpoints.  

So Khartoum remains a city at war. The RSF attacks the government enclaves with artillery on a regular basis, while the Sudanese Armed Forces respond with aerial bombardments. There is still an atmosphere of active war and a very strong fear of both parties to the conflict among the population. For example, some of the staff working at the Turkish Hospital supported by MSF never go outside, not even to run an errand in front of the hospital.  

WHAT ARE THE LIVING CONDITIONS LIKE FOR THE CIVILIANS WHO HAVE REMAINED IN KHARTOUM? 

Since the RSF took control of neighbouring Al Jazirah state, the markets in Khartoum have become better supplied with food, particularly fruit and vegetables. But the situation remains extremely difficult for the inhabitants and will likely continue to deteriorate. There is a major economic crisis in Sudan. 

And not just since the start of the war. For the last five years, the economy has been shrinking and today it's very hard to earn a living in Khartoum. It's an economy that is heavily affected by looting, and eventually there will be nothing left to loot.   

The overall indicators calculated by the United Nations teams for Khartoum state are extremely worrying. Even though we have not been able to verify these through our work, they show that 3.9 million people face high levels of food insecurity in Khartoum state. 

There is also the risk of an epidemic, which could lead to high mortality rates among a population that is particularly vulnerable in terms of nutrition. For the time being, Khartoum has been relatively spared, probably because of the low population density due to the mass departure of inhabitants. The cholera epidemic, which developed mainly in the towns of eastern Sudan, has affected the capital, but at very low rates. Similarly, there have been a few cases of measles, but here too the outbreak has remained extremely limited. Khartoum has not seen any outbreaks of dengue fever either, although there have been major outbreaks in other Sudanese cities. But there is no guarantee that Khartoum will remain unaffected by future epidemic outbreaks. 

HOW DOES THE POPULATION ACCESS HEALTHCARE?  

There are a few hospitals financed and run by the RSF, which do a bit of medical work in the city, but these are mainly for their fighters. A highly specialised cardiac surgery programme, set up by an international NGO, also continues to operate, but it does not meet the needs of a population in a city at war. This leaves only the four hospitals and a primary health care centre supported by MSF.

Even if Khartoum has achieved a degree of stability in terms of security, going to a hospital still represents a major risk. So people delay coming for as long as possible and think twice before crossing the city. The only people who continue to come quickly are those who have suffered trauma, whether from acts of war or accidents.  

At the Turkish Hospital, we saw people taking great risks to come and get the treatment they needed, like crossing the Nile by boat when there were bombings and snipers everywhere.  

HOW DOES THE TURKISH HOSPITAL, WHERE YOU WERE BASED IN KHARTOUM, CONTINUE TO FUNCTION? 

The Turkish Hospital is one of the few hospitals where the staff stayed after the war broke out. Today, the teams from the Ministry of Health tell us that if MSF hadn't come to support the hospital, whether by supplying medicines or paying salaries, they would have left the city—and therefore their posts—very quickly. 

The hospital was in a government zone when MSF began its collaboration. It then came under the control of the RSF when they took over the whole of the south of the town, including the hospital area. Despite this, the hospital was relatively spared from the fighting and bombing.   

Since then, activity in the emergency room has been fairly constant, with around a hundred visits a day, mainly for non-war related surgeries, obstetrics and road accidents. From time to time, war surgery is also necessary. During offensives or bombardments, we can treat up to 60 war casualties a day. For the rest of the facility, it is standard hospital activity, with a paediatric ward, a maternity unit, an internal medicine ward and a small outpatient department.  

WHAT IS THE IMPACT OF THE WAR ON HEALTH STAFF? 

The staff who work in the Turkish Hospital are under immense pressure. On the one hand, they are under pressure from the RSF, who are carrying out arbitrary arrests and brutal detentions of the civilian population, including Ministry of Health employees. As Ministry of Health staff are civil servants, the Rapid Support Forces consider that they may be spies in the pay of the Sudanese Armed Forces.  

On the government side, they also face growing suspicion. As the war goes on and civil servants carry out their work in RSF-controlled areas, the government's view of them is that they are now part of the RSF. There have been reports of incidents where civil servants have been arrested and ill-treated at Sudanese Armed Forces checkpoints on their way back to government zones, for example. So they're really between a rock and a hard place. But obviously, the fear is that the pressure will become too great and they will decide to flee abroad or to elsewhere in Sudan. 

HOW IS THE HOSPITAL SUPPLIED WITH EQUIPMENT AND MEDICINES?  

As with the other health structures supported by MSF, we have had problems at the Turkish Hospital since October when the government decided to blockade the city of Khartoum. At that point, it was no longer possible to transport medical equipment and medicines to RSF-controlled areas from Port Sudan, where the cargo ships arrive.   

So there was a serious shortage for a few weeks, until the RSF took control of Al Jazirah state and in particular the town of Wad Madani where our supplies were stored. From the moment it was taken over by the RSF, we were able to go there and bring most of the medical stocks to Khartoum.  

That said, in two months' time, the shortage problem will arise again.  We probably still won't be able to get the stocks and staff reinforcements through from Port Sudan, which remains under government control. We don't foresee that the government will change its policy. We are therefore in the process of trying to build a supply corridor from Chad.

3.9 million people face high levels of food insecurity in Khartoum state.
-Jean-Guy Vataux, MSF Head of Mission in Khartoum

...some of the staff working at the Turkish Hospital supported by MSF never go outside, not even to run an errand in front of the hospital. 

-Jean-Guy Vataux, MSF Head of Mission in Khartoum

View original: https://msf.org.au/article/project-news/sudan-situation-remains-extremely-difficult

____________________________

Related

Sudan Watch - March 08, 2024

UNSC adopts Resolution 2724 (2024) calling for cessation of hostilities in Sudan during Ramadan

THE UN Security Council on Friday (Mar 8) adopted a key resolution on Sudan, calling for an immediate cessation of hostilities in the war torn country during the month of Ramadan, which begins on Sunday. There were 14 votes in favour, 0 against, one abstention (Russia).

https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2024/03/unsc-adopts-resolution-2724-2024.html

___

Sudan Watch - March 11, 2024

VIDEO news report from Khartoum, Sudan on the first day of Ramadan shows no cessation of hostilities

Mr AlMigdad Hassan, correspondent for AlArabiya News Channel has filed his video report direct from Khartoum, Sudan to his X account on the first day of Ramadan, March 11th. Sadly, the footage in his report copied below shows that the cessation of hostilities by the belligerents hasn't happened.

https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2024/03/sudan-video-news-report-from-khartoum.html

___

Sudan Watch - March 12, 2024

Sudan: Khartoum is still in total blackout, desperate need for humanitarian aid, basic essentials, electricity

Here is a message I received from a reader in Khartoum, Sudan last Sunday (Mar 10). Sadly, in short it says, Khartoum is still in total blackout, some neighbourhoods have had no electricity and water for over ten months, there is a desperate need for humanitarian aid.

https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2024/03/sudan-khartoum-is-still-in-total.html

___

Sudan Watch - March 02, 2024

Sudan: In Zamzam camp, North Darfur, the death rate is catastrophic. At least 1 child dies every 2 hours

Malnutrition and disease are rife at the ‘overwhelmed’ Zamzam camp, a host to 300,000 internally displaced people, one of hundreds in Sudan, where war has displaced nearly 8 million people. The scale is simply terrifying. Zamzam is just one camp. There are hundreds of others in Sudan. 

https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2024/03/sudan-in-zamzam-camp-north-darfur-death.html

___

END

Sudan: In Zamzam camp, North Darfur, the death rate is catastrophic. At least 1 child dies every 2 hours

🔴 In Zamzam camp, North Darfur, Sudan, the death rate is catastrophic.

At least 1 child dies every 2 hours, often due to treatable illnesses like malaria or malnutrition. An urgent mass mobilisation from the international community is crucial in order to save lives. pic.twitter.com/Lt00T7ODbR

— MSF International (@MSF) February 25, 2024

_______________________________

Related

Malnutrition and disease are rife at the ‘overwhelmed’ Zamzam camp, a host to 300,000 internally displaced people, one of hundreds in Sudan, where war has displaced nearly 8 million people. The scale is simply terrifying. Zamzam is just one camp. There are hundreds of others in Sudan. 

Read more from The Guardian.org

By Fred Harter in Addis Ababa

Dated Wed, 21 Feb 2024, 13.52 GMT - excerpts:

Inside the Darfur camp where a child dies every two hours

Like most of Sudan, Zamzam has had no phone or internet connection for the past two weeks, but the Guardian managed to talk to refugees through a satellite link. They described a desperate situation, with no clean drinking water and little access to medical treatment. Families share meagre food stores. 

Almost 25% of children are severely malnourished. Dengue fever and malaria are sweeping through the camp. Beyond its perimeters roam militiamen who kidnap or attack women who venture out to collect firewood or grass for their donkeys. Apart from one small distribution in June, no food aid has arrived since fighting erupted across Sudan on 15 April.

Full story: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2024/feb/21/darfur-sudan-zamzam-camp-child-dies-every-two-hours

END

A 'Lost Boy of Sudan’ Elijah Manyok Jok who became a humanitarian in South Sudan: WFP school meals vital

“Sometimes it was hard to live with just the food ration each of us received from WFP. It became easier with time when we joined efforts and shared the rations as a family. Many of children arriving at the camp presented signs of malnutrition. School meals however, proved a vital source of sustenance.

“[They] saved us from malnutrition and changed our lives," says Elijah. 

"When there were ration cuts, the school was completely empty. Kids cannot stay at school until 6pm without eating and go back home with an empty stomach.” 

Read more in article at World Food Programme (WFP) wfp.org
By Gioacchino Gargano
Dated 13 December 2021 - here is a copy in full:

World at his feet: The ‘lost boy’ who became a humanitarian in South Sudan

Recruited by militants in the nineties, Elijah Manyok Jok escaped to Kenya where he received World Food Programme school meals, joining the organization as an adult - and then setting up his own NGO

Sudanese children playing football in Zam Zam camp in 2016 – five years after South Sudan gained independence. Photo: WFP/Gabriela Vivacqua 

“My first memories of the World Food Programme as a child are the cars driving through the streets of Kakuma refugee camp,” says Elijah Manyok Jok – vehicles emblazoned with the blue letters, WFP. “I remember me and my friends running around those cars, asking for bottles of water. Back then we didn't see those bottles very often so they were very precious to us. Those cars gave us hope that something good was coming our way and that, one day, we too would be driving one of those cars. That was the only hope a refugee child could have at that time.”

The 34-year-old from Bor, a city on the eastern banks of the White Nile river in South Sudan, is the founder and chief executive of an NGO called the Smile Again Africa Development Organization and leading a humanitarian figure in his own right. 

In the early 1990s, the second Sudanese civil war stormed the southern regions of the country, bringing terror and massacres. 

Elijah left Bor, seeking refuge in the bushes of Eastern Equatorial state – starting a journey that landed him in the very sort of cars he once chased, as a WFP field monitor.

“I spent three years within the war zones and bushes of southern Sudan, wandering before joining the rest of the unaccompanied minors who later became known as the 'lost boys' of Sudan,” he says.

Elijah and other 20,000 children, from the rural region of what was then southern Sudan were displaced or orphaned during the war. The lost boys embarked on perilous journeys to the nearest refugee camps in Ethiopia and Kenya where thousands had been sheltered for a number of years.

Struggling to survive, they became easy targets for the armed groups — many, including Elijah, were recruited as child soldiers. In 1994, at the age of 7, Elijah managed to escape and cross the border to Kenya. After days of walking, he arrived at Kakuma refugee camp.

An undated photo of Elijah (middle) with his friends in Kakuma. 

Photo: Supplied

Growing up in Kakuma

“At first, they divided us into groups, I shared a shelter with other boys I never met before,” he says. “Then, with time, I found relatives and family friends and moved in with them”.

Then there was the issue of meals. 

“Sometimes it was hard to live with just the food ration each of us received from WFP. It became easier with time when we joined efforts and shared the rations as a family. Many of children arriving at the camp presented signs of malnutrition. School meals however, proved a vital source of sustenance."

“[They] saved us from malnutrition and changed our lives," says Elijah. "When there were ration cuts, the school was completely empty. Kids cannot stay at school until 6pm without eating and go back home with an empty stomach.”

In early 2000, the project to resettle the lost boys of Sudan brought new hope in the camp. Some 3,000 children made it to the US. “I was excited about the idea of going to the US. I was ready to start a new life and continue my studies,” says Elijah. But then came 9/11. “Everything changed, the programme was completely shut down, as well as my hope. Kakuma remained my home for the following seven years.”

The civil war finally ended in 2005 with the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. Elijah requested to be resettled in South Sudan.

In 2007, Elijah flew back home on a UNHCR flight. He settled in Bor, where he was finally reunited with his parents.

He enrolled in at online university to pursue a degree in business administration. Upon graduating in 2010, he received a call from WFP offering him a position as field monitor.

“There was a strong calling in me to step up and help my people help themselves,” he says. “I was a product of humanitarian efforts myself after 13 years of being a refugee, totally relying on humanitarian assistance for my food, water, shelter, protection, and education. all basics of life. I was therefore indebted to humanity and saw this as an opportunity to give back.”

And there he was, from the other side of the bulletproof window of a WFP car, looking at kids running along as his country was screaming out loud for independence.

Elijah celebrating the independence of South Sudan in 2011. 

Photo: Supplied

 “I was still working with WFP when South Sudan got its independence [in 2011]. I have wonderful memories. I was at the border with Sudan when we received the news, it was a mix of joy, shock, and disbelief. We celebrated all night, and I was the star of the party, being the only one carrying a South Sudanese flag”.

Airdrops to fight famine

After three years at WFP, Elijah broadened his experience by working with international NGOs such as Save the Children and Catholic Relief. “It was a great experience. It helped me understand how a big NGO is managed,” he says.

He then supported a group of friends founding Smile Again Africa. Since 2014, the year of a disastrous food crisis in South Sudan, he has been working full time with Smile Again Africa, which has been partnering with WFP to deliver food assistance and implement feeding programmes.

“I remember the struggles to reach the ones in need in 2014. There was no access, no roads, [a] high risk of being ambushed. That is when WFP started dropping food from the sky. I’ve been very vocal about the need for airdrops.”

Air drops are a last resort for WFP as they cost seven times more than delivering by road.

Elijah with the WFP Director of South Sudan Matthew Hollingworth, left. Photo: Supplied

With time, Elijah transformed Smile Again into a solid, national NGO focusing on food security, livelihoods, gender, education, and nutrition.

“When I joined as the new CEO of SAADO, the organization had only one office, seven staff and one computer and the first project was funded by WFP for US$19,000. Now we have 9 offices, around 600 staff members and a yearly budget of between US$9 million and 11 million.” 

Elijah doesn’t miss any opportunity to join forums and events WFP organizes for its NGO partners. 

“These consultations have really helped shaped SAADO leadership. It helped us create a bigger network and get in contact with international actors.

“When I met [WFP chief executive] David Beasley in Rome, I told him that in my life I have been dealing with WFP in almost all possible ways: I’ve been a beneficiary, I have been a staff member and now I am a partner. I am just missing becoming a donor…. we will see about that!”

Learn more about WFP's work in South Sudan

This article complements the Annual Partnership Consultation 2021, an event that WFP organizes annually to discuss strategic priorities and coordinated activities with its 800+ international and local NGOs partners

View original and photos: https://www.wfp.org/stories/world-his-feet-lost-boy-who-became-humantarian-south-sudan

[Ends]