Dozens of Children, Elderly Die of Hunger after Fleeing Sudan’s Darfur Camp

At least 73 children and more than 20 elderly people have died from hunger and disease over the past 40 days after fleeing the Abu Shouk camp in Sudan’s North Darfur, activists said on Sunday, highlighting a deepening humanitarian crisis in the city of El Fasher. The camp, which once housed over 190,000 displaced people, has been subjected to repeated artillery and drone attacks, killing large numbers of people and forcing thousands to flee. In late August, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) stormed the camp, killing about 40 displaced people and abducting others, according to activists. They added that the RSF also destroyed 98% of the water sources. “More than 73 children under the age of five and 22 elderly people have died… from hunger and disease,” the Abu Shouk Emergency Room said in a statement. Most of the displaced residents now live in makeshift gatherings in and around El Fasher in “extremely harsh” conditions, with an almost complete lack of food and medicine that has worsened malnutrition, the statement said. Free community kitchens have completely shut down due to a lack of funding, with the cost of a single meal for 20 families now exceeding 9 million Sudanese pounds. The group also warned of a health catastrophe with bodies left unburied near displaced communities because the security situation has made burials impossible. Sudan Tribune