Al -Fasher In the heart of the state of North Darfur (western Sudan), Al -Fasher lives one of the worst humanitarian crises that the country has known since the outbreak of the war, as the city is moving in an accelerated step towards a realistic famine, amid a suffocating siege imposed by the Rapid Support Forces, and a complete stop for charitable kitchens known locally as “Takaya” in the absence of an effective international response.
The residents of El -Fasher are no longer asking about tomorrow, but rather clinging to what keeps them alive until the evening, as the decline in access to food, water and medicine reached unprecedented levels, the markets stopped working, and most of the health centers were closed after the supply was run out. As for the streets, a witness to the scenes of misery, where families roam looking for girls ’clogging.
Speaking to Al -Jazeera Net, the governor of North Darfur state, in charge of Hafez Bakhit, said that “the living situation inside the city of El -Fasher is almost completely collapsing, to the extent that some residents have become feed on feed animals locally known as (the mint) in a scene that reveals the depth of the disaster.”
Bakhit stressed the necessity of breaking the siege on his city, praising the steadfastness of its residents, the armed forces and the popular resistance in the face of the deteriorating situation.
The origin of the crisis dates back to April, when the Rapid Support Forces imposed a tight cordon on the city, and any relief convoys or food bodies were prevented. A number of trucks were looted, and the main roads were disrupted, which made El -Fasher isolated from the rest of Sudan.
Systematic prevention
Ahmed Adam, one of the food dealers, told Al -Jazeera Net that the Rapid Support Forces prevented any truck or goods to enter the city. “The situation is catastrophic. Even minor drugs are prohibited. We have faced arrests, and we were subjected to shooting during attempts to enter goods, and the city is systematically suffocating that threatens everyone’s life.”
The Takaya, collectively kitchens, offered thousands of meals per day to the poor and the displaced, but it stopped completely with the lack of basic materials.
“We were cooking daily for more than 4 thousand people, and in some days we used to increase the amount according to donations, but now it has stopped completely, and people have searched for food in the garbage, without finding anything,” said relief activist Mohamed Al -Rifai, who previously supervised the “goodness of good” to Al -Jazeera Net.
He added that “intravenous solutions and medical gauze are not available, and most doctors and volunteers left the city, which left the families in complete need without support or aid.”
Children’s famine
For its part, Khadija Moussa, Director of the Ministry of Health in the North Darfur region, confirmed that there are severe malnutrition cases between children, pregnant women, lactating women and the elderly, noting that the current situation and the applicable siege contribute to the exacerbation of these cases.
The Director of Health in the region – to Al -Jazeera Net – said that the ministry is trying to interfere through nutrition centers, despite the lack of cadres and supplies.
However, a medical source in the Saudi Hospital – the only one currently working in El Fasher – assured Al -Jazeera Net that “the situation is out of control”, noting that the number of children suffering from severe wasting, with a severe shortage of therapeutic solutions.
“We are not treated, but we are waiting for death as it slows down in front of our eyes. Mothers carrying children whose weight does not exceed 4 kilograms, some of them stop their growth completely and others do not cry on crying. We live in a complete deficit.”
Psychological repercussions
Hunger not only kills the body, but extends to undermine mental health. Social consultant Mohamed Suleiman Atim – to Al Jazeera Net – says that children and women suffer from severe psychological disorders due to hunger, including isolation, talking with the self, bouts of anxiety and fear of the future.
Atim pointed out that “the war in Al -Fasher left strange paradoxes. Despite the tragedies, the families gathered around the rare food tables, but the takaia, which was a social outlet, stopped to increase the suffering.”
Despite the size of the disaster, Al -Fasher is absent from media coverage. The Western press did not uniquely reports the crisis, and the city does not attend international news bulletins, and the local press suffers from poor capabilities and scarcity of cadres.
“We write, document and talk, but no one is conveying our voice, it seems that the world does not want to see. We need someone to tell our story to the world,” he said, noting that the world does not want to see.
International silence
Despite the repeated calls of local activists and civil society leaders, the United Nations or major humanitarian organizations did not announce an urgent intervention plan to break the siege or open safe passages.
“What is happening is beyond the limits of the warning. We live in a trap called hunger, and we ask if our souls are less valuable than other crises that have immediate international intervention,” human rights activist Salma Fathi told Al -Jazeera Net. “People here need food and medicine, and every moment of delay means losing more lives,” she added.
Residents and activists tell painful stories of children and women suffering from malnutrition after food is interrupted for days, as the movement between hospitals and shelters has turned into a daily scene.
“There are those who find nothing to eat, and children and women were injured by malnutrition due to the stopping of the takaia that the families depended on. The situation deteriorates day after day, and death knocks on the doors.”
Muhammad stressed the need for urgent intervention to break the siege and provide aid, stressing that “every minute delay means more victims, and the world must move now before it is too late.”
(Tagstotranslate) Politics (T) Freedoms (T) Sudan (T) Arabic