Sudan: MSF appeals for civilians’ lives to be spared in El Fasher
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) appeals for civilians’ lives to be spared in El Fasher, Sudan’s North Darfur capital, and for them to be allowed to flee to safer areas. Given the ethnic-based violence spiking across Darfur for over two years and the large-scale massacres committed in Zamzam when the camp was taken last April by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and their allies, we are deeply alarmed that this could happen again in El Fasher.
Our medical teams, working 60 kilometres away in Tawila, admitted earlier today dozens of patients coming from El Fasher to the overwhelmed town’s hospital. During the night of Oct. 26 to 27, around 1,000 people from El Fasher arrived by truck at the entrance of Tawila where we set up a health post to provide emergency care and refer patients in the most critical condition directly to the hospital. So far today, about 300 people were treated at the health post and 130 sent to the emergency room of the hospital, including 15 requiring lifesaving surgery.
For now, many more people appear to remain trapped in and around El Fasher and we stand ready to respond to further mass influx of displaced and injured people in Tawila.
Last week, over 1,300 people fleeing El Fasher arrived by truck in Tawila on Oct. 18 to 19 adding to the large numbers of forcibly displaced persons already in Tawila. Amongst these new arrivals, MSF screened 165 children under five years old and found that 75 per cent were acutely malnourished, including 26 per cent severely. This shocking rate is a testament to the horror unfolding in El Fasher, where famine has been spreading as the RSF have been attacking and besieging the area for more than 500 days, preventing food and aid from reaching the starving people at all costs. With soaring prices, community kitchens shutting down, shelled and depleted markets and humanitarian aid blocked, people have had almost no access to food.
