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humanitarian operation in Sudan’s conflict-torn North Darfur Face collapse, the UN migration agency warned on Tuesday.
The agency has urgently called for funding and safe access to relief supplies to prevent aid from coming to a complete halt.
“Despite the growing need, humanitarian operations are at the brink of collapse,” the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said in a statement.
It added: “Warehouses are nearly empty, aid convoys face significant insecurity, and access restrictions continue to prevent the delivery of sufficient aid.”
IOM said more funding is needed to reduce the humanitarian impact of the war between the Sudanese army and its rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
The agency warned that if its appeal was not heeded there would be an “even greater disaster”.
“Our teams are responding, but insecurity and low supplies mean we are reaching only a fraction of the people in need,” IOM Director-General Amy Pope said in a statement.
RSF’s recent capture of Al-Fashar, the capital of North Darfur, has killed hundreds of people and forced thousands to flee reports of paramilitary atrocities, according to aid groups and UN officials. IOM said about 90,000 people have left al-Fashar and surrounding villages, and are making dangerous journeys along unsafe routes where they have no access to food, water or medical aid.
Thousands of people have ended up in crowded displacement camps in Tawila, about 70 kilometers (43 miles) from al-Fashar. In the camps, displaced people find themselves in barren areas with few tents and inadequate food and medical supplies.
“We are getting very little food from the community kitchen here; we only get lunch,” Sohaiba Omar, 20, told The Associated Press from a shelter in the Diba Naira camp in Tawila.
“We also need a nearby source of water and toilets. Throwing our waste in the open can make us fall ill and vulnerable to diseases like cholera,” he said.
Bataul Mohammed, a 25-year-old volunteer at the camp, said: “There are too many displaced people; they are also hungry. It is very difficult to have people come to us and say they can’t eat because they don’t have enough food.”
The violence has spread to other parts of Sudan, including West Darfur and the Kordofan region, forcing more people to flee their homes. According to IOM, approximately 39,000 people fled the conflict in North Kordofan between 26 October and 9 November.
The war between the RSF and the army began in 2023 as tensions rose between the two former allies who were tasked with overseeing the democratic transition after a 2019 uprising. According to the World Health Organization, at least 40,000 people have been killed and 12 million displaced in the fighting. However, aid groups say the actual death toll may be many times higher.