Sudan denies famine outbreak, army announces advance in Omdurman

The Humanitarian Aid Commission in Sudan denied the existence of famine in the Zamzam camp for displaced persons in North Darfur, west of the country, after a UN report spoke of the spread of famine in the camp.

The Commission said in a statement that what was recently reported by the Early Warning Systems about the existence of famine in a number of camps in Darfur is completely untrue, according to its statement.

The Commission added that the food shortage suffered by some camps is due to the siege and shelling imposed by what it called the Rapid Support Militia on the city of El Fasher, as well as its detention of trucks carrying food on the outskirts of the city.

The Commission stressed that the talk about famine in those areas is not consistent with the conditions and elements that must be met before declaring famines.

famine

A committee of food security experts said in a report issued last Thursday that the war in Sudan and restrictions imposed on the delivery of aid to those in need caused the outbreak of famine in the Zamzam camp for the displaced.

The UN-backed Famine Review Commission concluded in its report that famine – confirmed when criteria for severe malnutrition and death are met – in the Zamzam camp near the city of El Fasher will likely continue there until at least next October.

The camp houses 500,000 people, and the number of displaced people in the area has increased due to the ongoing battles in the city of El Fasher between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces.

No aid has reached the sprawling camp for months, Reuters reported.

The food security experts' report also indicated that El Fasher airport is not suitable for delivering humanitarian aid due to the lack of security, noting that the last shipment of food aid to Zamzam camp was last April.

American pressure

In a related context, the Sudanese newspaper Al-Ahdath quoted the US Special Envoy to Sudan, Tom Perriello, as saying yesterday, Sunday, that his country is exerting more pressure on the warring parties in Sudan to put an end to the fighting, stressing that his country is playing a neutral role during these efforts.

He believed that the Rapid Support Militia had no future in Sudan, and said in a press interview, “We ask the army to allow the passage of humanitarian aid because it represents a recognized military institution, but we do not expect the same from the Rapid Support Forces.”

Regarding his country's position on the peace negotiations between the Sudanese parties in Jeddah, Perriello urged the parties to the conflict to abide by what was stated in the Jeddah Declaration, noting that they had not implemented what was stated in the agreement.

He explained that “the army did not commit to protecting civilians and allowing humanitarian aid to pass, while the Rapid Support Forces did not abide by their pledges to leave homes and civilian institutions.”

The army controls areas in Omdurman

On the other hand, two informed military sources told Al Jazeera yesterday, Sunday, that the Sudanese army had taken control of large areas west of the city of Omdurman.

The Sudanese army forces took control of the Mansoura, Hamad al-Nil, al-Nakhil neighborhoods and parts of the Abu Saad area after violent battles with the Rapid Support Forces.

According to the sources, the Sudanese army was able to inflict losses on the support in terms of lives and equipment, and also seized usable military equipment.

The Rapid Support Forces have not issued any official comment yet on the developments in the military operations west of Omdurman.

Battles in El Fasher

The Coordination of Resistance Committees in El Fasher, which supports the Sudanese army, reported that 23 civilians were killed and 60 others were injured, as a result of artillery shelling launched by the Rapid Support Forces on a number of neighborhoods in the city of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur State, in the west of the country, last Saturday.

The armed Sudan Liberation Movement in Darfur also stated that the joint forces – supporting the Sudanese army – inflicted a defeat on the Rapid Support Forces in El Fasher during battles that took place between them on different fronts in the city.

The fierce fighting in El Fasher between the army and allied forces on the one hand and the Rapid Support Forces on the other is approaching its fifth month, and has caused thousands of deaths and injuries and hundreds of thousands to flee the city.

Since mid-April 2023, the Sudanese army, led by the head of the Sovereignty Council, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces, led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo “Hemedti”, have been waging a war that has left about 15,000 dead and about 10 million displaced and refugees, according to the United Nations, while other sources estimate the number of dead at tens of thousands.