Children already dying in Sudan’s stricken Zamzam camp: WFP

This article is published in association with United Nations.

UN humanitarians on Friday warned again that thousands of families could starve in the coming weeks inside the Zamzam displacement camp in North Darfur.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) confirmed that it has had to pause the distribution of life saving food and nutrition assistance, due to escalating violence.

WFP spokesperson Leni Kinzli said the UN agency’s partners in the camp had no choice but to evacuate their staff to safety.

“The recent violence in Zamzam has also left the central market destroyed…residents of the camp, which is around half a million people, are even further away from accessing food and essential food.

Government troops have been battling their former allies turned adversaries, the Rapid Support Forces militia, for nearly two years. The RSF now controls virtually all of Darfur but has been laying siege to the city of El Fasher for months, close to ZamZam.

RSF Militia stormed the camp on 11 February triggering several days of clashes with army troops and allied forces, according to news reports.

Deadly consequences

“People, particularly children, are already dying of hunger in Zamzam. And the fact that we are forced to suspend operations will make that even worse,” she added.

WFP and partners provided 60,000 people with food vouchers before heavy shelling forced the UN agency to pause aid operations in Zamzam.

The food vouchers allow families to purchase essential food supplies such as cereals, pulses, oil and salt, directly from local markets which are stocked by the private sector.

“As WFP, we’ve been trying every possible way to get vital aid into the hands of people whose lives hang in the balance,” Ms. Kinzli said. She explained that the UN agency is “continuously having to overcome barriers and obstacles” caused by the ongoing violence and insecurity.

Illustrating the need to find alternative ways of providing support to communities who are cut off by conflict such as in Zamzam, WFP has launched an online self-registration aid platform which is now active and provides cash-based assistance in remote Sudanese locations.

“We have done it in other parts of Sudan, like Khartoum, and we have received an overwhelming response from communities,” Ms. Kinzli said. “It does work well despite the patchy communications networks.”

Once registered, recipients can expect to receive digital transfers via a mobile money app which provides them with critical assistance until conditions permit the safe passage of humanitarian personnel and convoys, the WFP officer explained.

Aid delivery must resume

“We must resume the delivery of life-saving aid in and around Zamzam safely, quickly and at scale,” she insisted. For that the fighting must stop, and humanitarian organizations must be granted security guarantees.”

In 2024, two out of every three people in famine or risk of famine areas in Sudan received WFP assistance. But this is not enough, humanitarians warn.

“Regular, monthly deliveries to starving communities are the only way to push back the famine in Sudan,” WFP said, warning that access to famine and famine-risk areas is “sporadic and inconsistent”.

Today, two million people in 27 locations across Sudan are now experiencing famine or on the brink of it.