Thirst in South Darfur, White Nile state

The people living in Otash camp for the displaced near Nyala, capital of South Darfur, are complaining about thirst. In El Gezira Aba and Rabak in White Nile state, the people are suffering from an acute shortage of drinking water as well.

Speaking to Radio Dabanga, an Otash camp sheikh reported that the displaced have been suffering from a lack of water for more than three months, because of a lack of fuel needed for the water engines.

“The Sudanese Water and Environmental Sanitation (WEST) Corporation has proposed to the displaced to share the expenses. We are supposed to pay half of the costs for fuel and maintenance,” he said.

“Unfortunately, we had to inform the corporation that the displaced cannot afford to pay for the fuel because they do not have any money left any more. They are now paying SDG 30 ($4.50) for a barrel of water.”

While Nile

Also El Gezira Aba and Rabak in White Nile state are short of drinking water.

“Although we are surrounded by the Nile, we are suffering from day-long water outages,” a listener told Radio Dabanga from El Gezira Aba.

“For more than a week now, we have to wait until the early hours of the morning to get a limited amount of water. Most people resort to buying water from tankers, that sell a barrel of water for SDG 44 ($6.50),” she said.