from RAJI BASHIR in Khartoum, Sudan
Sudan Bureau
KHARTOUM, (CAJ News) – SOME displaced families in Sudan are reportedly eating animal feed to survive after four months of famine.
These families in Zamzam refugee camp in North Darfur are also resorting to desperate measures like eating one meal a day.
Sorghum and millet are the most preferred meal in the camp housing 500 000 people and across the region, but due to high prices, families are reportedly forced to eat an animal feed called ambaz, the leftovers from beans and sesame after oil extraction.
Save the Children reported the trend.
Severe water shortages are also hitting families hard across Zamzam with many forced to survive on less than two litres of water a day against a daily requirement of 2.6-to-3 litres per person.
The depletion of stocks of drugs and therapeutic foods is driving extremely high levels of malnutrition in the camp.
“The suffering endured by people in this camp is beyond comprehension,” lamented Mohamed Abdiladif, Interim Country Director for Save the Children in Sudan.
The organisation called on parties to the conflict to protect civilians and humanitarian aid workers, to facilitate unimpeded humanitarian access and to uphold the international humanitarian law.
“We also call the regional and international community to increase the diplomatic pressure and to facilitate a cease fire and to end this conflict as soon as we can,” Abdiladif.
The civilian war started in April 2023 and worsened into one of the most severe crises globally.
– CAJ News