North Darfur: Humanitarian crisis deepens in Tawila amid fresh wave of displacement

A new wave of displaced people fleeing conflict, insecurity, and drought, has arrived in Tawila, in Sudan’s North Darfur, with 216 families, or about 1,300 people seeking refuge in an already struggling to provide even the most basic services.

The families, who arrived between 2 and 13 September from different parts of Kordofan and Darfur, are living in what the General Coordination for Displaced Persons and Refugees described as extremely difficult humanitarian conditions.

The organisation’s spokesman said Tawila received 193 families on Thursday and a further 23 on Saturday, bringing the total number of newly arrived families to 216, or an estimated 1,300 people.

The latest displacement was driven by the continuing deterioration of security and humanitarian conditions, as well as drought in the areas from which the families had fled, he said.

‘As the number of displaced people grows, so does the need for food, water, shelter, healthcare, and protection…’

Their arrival is placing further pressure on Tawila, where resources are already limited and the provision of essential services remains difficult. As the number of displaced people grows, so does the need for food, water, shelter, healthcare, and protection.

The spokesman said the arrival of the families underlined the scale of Sudan’s worsening humanitarian crisis and the urgent need for a coordinated response from authorities and aid organisations.

He said the newly arrived families lacked food, medicine, and clean water, and were living in extreme poverty, deprived of the most basic necessities.

‘Children and women need psychological care to help overcome the trauma of war and displacement…’

Displacement camps are facing severe shortages of shelter and healthcare services, he said, increasing the risks faced by children and pregnant women.

The absence of psychosocial support was also placing communities at risk of further collapse, the spokesman warned.

“Children and women are in urgent need of psychological care to help them overcome the trauma of war and displacement,” he said.

Appeal to aid organisations

Rajil, speaking on behalf of the General Coordination for Displaced Persons and Refugees, called on humanitarian organisations to respond to what he described as urgent and growing needs.

He appealed for emergency food distributions sufficient to ease daily hunger, and for hospitals and health centres to be supplied with essential medicines.

He also called for safe sources of drinking water, tents or temporary accommodation for newly arrived families, and urgent psychosocial programmes for children and women affected by the conflict.

Rajil urged civil society groups and independent media to draw attention to the humanitarian crisis, saying the tragedy must not be allowed to fade from public view or leave its victims without a voice.

“We urge UN agencies and humanitarian organisations to intervene immediately to provide the basic necessities for survival and to ensure the protection of displaced people from violations and a slow death,” the spokesman says.

The town of Tawila has become a humanitarian response hub in North Darfur, with makeshift camps receiving displaced civilians daily from areas best by violence. Numbers surged last year by at least half a million people were forced to flee the destruction of Zamzam camp following the siege on El Fasher. The influx of people fleeing the conflict has not abated, and in recent weeks, more have arriving in Tawila from Darfur and Kordofan, exhausted and starving, and often without any personal belongings.

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Note: This report has been translated from Arabic with the assistance of artificial intelligence tools, and subsequently reviewed and adapted by a human editor before publication.