Malnutrition has killed 63 people, mostly women and children, in just one week in Sudan’s besieged city of El-Fasher, a senior health official said Sunday, as fighting between the army and rival paramilitaries intensifies in the western region.
The official from North Darfur’s health ministry, who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity, said the death toll only included those who managed to reach hospitals, adding that many families buried their dead without seeking medical help due to poor security conditions and a lack of transportation.
Since May last year, El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, has been under siege by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which has been battling Sudan’s regular army since April 2023.
The city remains the last major Darfur urban centre in army control, and has recently come under renewed attack by the RSF after the group withdrew from Sudan’s capital Khartoum earlier this year.
A major RSF offensive on the nearby Zamzam displacement camp in April forced tens of thousands of people to flee again — with many of them now sheltering inside El-Fasher.
Community kitchens, once a lifeline, have largely shut down due to a lack of supplies. Some families are reported to be surviving on animal fodder or food waste.
