East Darfur a vast displacement camp after 1,000 days of war

By Abdelmoneim Madibu for Radio Dabanga and Sudan Media Forum Joint Newsroom

After more than 40 years spent in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, Awad Adam Khair Adam never imagined that his relationship with the city where he built his life would end so brutally. The sudden outbreak of war forced him to flee his home, carrying his family on a long journey of displacement from one place to another in search of safety. From Khartoum to West Kordofan, and then to East Darfur, each stop marked a fresh loss and deeper uncertainty.

Today, Awad lives in Ed Daein alongside thousands of displaced people whom the war has driven back to square one, where nothing is certain except waiting. His story mirrors the suffering of an entire generation uprooted after decades of stability.

Speaking to Radio Dabanga, Awad said that after leaving his home in Khartoum, he and his family first travelled to West Kordofan, where they settled for a period on the outskirts of Babanusa, before being forced to flee once again as security conditions deteriorated.

“We finally arrived in East Darfur after hearing it was relatively safer,” he said. “But we were shocked to receive no humanitarian assistance or support from organisations, despite moving repeatedly from one area to another.”

He added that what eased their suffering was the solidarity shown by the local community in East Darfur, where displaced families were warmly received and residents shared shelter, water, and whatever limited resources they had available.

Awad noted that Ed Daein has become home to large concentrations of displaced people from various states and regions, including Sennar and Wad El Neel. He stressed that this community solidarity has been the main reason for their survival so far, in the absence of organised humanitarian intervention.

‘We lost everything‘

Mujahid Mohamed Zeidan Dalil Saleh, who worked in Khartoum for many years, also recounted the details of his forced displacement. He said the war shattered once-secure families and compelled thousands of citizens to leave their homes against their will. About a year ago, he fled from Khartoum to East Darfur under what he described as extremely harsh conditions.

Mujahid told Radio Dabanga that his family, like many others, lost everything they owned in Khartoum — homes, possessions, and sources of livelihood — without receiving any attention from official bodies or humanitarian agencies to assess their needs as displaced people.

He said daily challenges include unaffordable rents and the collapse of education and health services, stressing that this suffering extends far beyond his own family to large numbers of displaced people across East Darfur.

Emergency response efforts

In the near absence of humanitarian intervention, the Ed Daein Emergency Response Room has emerged as a vital local initiative. Yahya Abu Assal, the organisation’s programme and projects coordinator, said displaced people in East Darfur are among the most neglected, having received nowhere near the level of humanitarian support required.

He explained that, in response to the humanitarian crisis, volunteers established the Emergency Response Room in the second week after the outbreak of war between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces — a conflict that has now entered its thousandth day, leaving unprecedented levels of displacement, refuge and suffering across Sudan.

Abu Assal told Radio Dabanga that East Darfur’s nine localities have received large numbers of displaced people, leading to the emergence of new displacement camps in addition to the state’s older camps. He said around 45,000 displaced people are currently spread across the Lagawa, Gereida, Sabreen and El Manara camps in Ed Daein alone. All of these camps were established after the war of 15 April and are experiencing extremely harsh humanitarian conditions.

“Conditions inside these camps are dire,” he said. “Communal kitchens have stopped operating, families have no sources of income, and access to food and water is severely limited amid acute water shortages and an almost complete absence of basic services.”

He added that current humanitarian interventions are minimal and entirely disproportionate to the scale of need.

Despite severe shortages, the Emergency Response Room has continued to provide assistance to the most vulnerable groups, including running communal kitchens, offering free medical treatment, and distributing food baskets and basic supplies. However, many communal kitchens have recently ceased operating due to a lack of funding. Abu Assal confirmed that the organisation continues to provide free treatment for displaced people and other vulnerable groups in hospitals.

Displacement figures

Jamal El Zein Mahmoud, Director of the Sudanese Agency for Relief and Humanitarian Operations in East Darfur, said estimates indicate that nearly three million displaced people are currently living within the state. He added that there are eight displacement camps spread across the localities of Abu Jabra, Bahr El Arab, Buka Rinka and Assalaya, in addition to camps inside Ed Daein, the state capital.

He told Radio Dabanga that Ed Daein alone hosts eight major displacement camps, including El Neem camp, which houses around 180,000 displaced people plus 18,000 newly arrived families; El Manara camp, hosting about 3,000 families; Lagawa camp with 7,800 families; Sabreen camp with approximately 56,000 families; and Gereida camp, which hosts around 3,800 families.

Displacement camps are not limited to Ed Daein, he said, but are spread across all localities of the state, including Buka Rinka, Adila, Bahr El Arab, Assalaya, Yassin and Shai ’ria. The largest concentrations of displaced people are found in the Khazan Jadeed administrative unit of Sharia locality, where more than 900,000 displaced people are estimated to be living across El Wahda, El Nakheel and Khazan Jadeed camps, in addition to a large camp in Yassin locality and thousands sheltering in government buildings and schools.

El Zein noted that East Darfur’s population before the war was officially estimated at around 400,000. However, the latest joint assessment conducted by the Sudanese Agency for Relief in cooperation with national and international organisations and UN agencies now estimates the total population currently present in the state at around 3.6 million people.

He warned that this massive influx has placed enormous pressure on basic services, particularly health, food, and water, further worsening the humanitarian situation for displaced people living under extremely difficult conditions amid limited assistance. Only three international organisations are currently operating in the state — CARE, World Vision, and Alight — highlighting the scale of the humanitarian gap.

He also pointed to the continued flow of displaced people into East Darfur from Sennar, El Gezira and Blue Nile states via the El Raqibat crossing near South Sudan, warning that this could further exacerbate the humanitarian crisis in the coming period.

An urgent appeal

Abu Assal warned of the dire conditions faced by newly displaced people in shelters and camps, stressing their urgent need for food, communal kitchens, water sources, and education services. He called on humanitarian organisations and charitable actors to join forces to support these centres and camps with food supplies and funding for communal kitchens in order to meet immediate needs.

He said the Emergency Response Room currently oversees around 150 communal kitchens covering part of the humanitarian needs, but all are suffering from acute financial shortages.

Jamil Allah El Sadiq El Haj, a volunteer with the Ed Daein Emergency Response Room, said the organisation has issued an urgent appeal to support displacement camps and shelters in East Darfur amid extremely harsh conditions and life-saving needs that cannot be delayed. He said displaced people are facing severe shortages of basic necessities, as well as critical education needs, describing the situation as a matter of life or death for thousands of war-affected families.

He urged humanitarian organisations that previously supported the camps to continue and expand their assistance, particularly in communal kitchens, shelters, water provision, and essential supplies, before conditions deteriorate further. Any support provided at this stage, he said, represents a real glimmer of hope for people like Awad Khair and Mujahid Zeidan, and for thousands of displaced families struggling under extreme need.

This appeal comes amid a sharp reduction in international humanitarian funding, which has also prompted the World Food Programme to announce a cut of approximately 70 per cent in its assistance to Sudan.

---

The Sudan Media Forum and its member organisations publish this report, prepared by Radio Dabanga, to highlight the impact of one thousand days of war on East Darfur state. The conflict has transformed the state’s towns and villages into a vast theatre of displacement, leaving more than three million displaced people spread across eight camps, including camps within Ed Daein itself.

After one thousand days of war, communities in East Darfur continue to face worsening conditions amid declining international support for humanitarian needs — underscoring the urgent necessity of reaching political solutions between the warring parties to avert further catastrophe.

Find Sudan Media Forum on Facebook and on X (formerly Twitter): #StandWithSudan #SilenceKills #الصمت_يقتل #NoTimeToWasteForSudan #الوضع_في_السودان_لايحتمل_التأجيل #SudanMediaForum