According to a report by the United Nations Media Center, in the Zamzam camp, displaced persons from all five Darfur states, in addition to those who fled the conflict in Khartoum, have significantly increased the camp’s population to about half a million, according to statistics from relief agencies.
Officials from the camp’s emergency room team describe it as a “miniature Darfur,” noting that emergency rooms are striving to provide food to more than 46 shelters within the camp in an effort to alleviate the suffering of the displaced. They highlighted that families are destitute, with children spending their entire day without any food at all. Some families go several days without lighting a fire because they have no food to cook, which has led to the declaration of famine in the besieged camp where families have nothing.
The UN report also states that the lack of food is not the only challenge faced by the residents of Zamzam camp. The issue of drinking water scarcity adds another burden for the displaced. Officials said, “All water wells are out of service due to the lack of fuel as the area is besieged, with only two out of eight wells in the camp operational.”
The report reveals that the high prices of foodstuffs force many displaced people to eat animal feed, if available. It noted, “All indicators of famine are very clear” within the camp, pointing to “many deaths” due to widespread hunger among the camp’s residents, particularly among children. “We cannot obtain therapeutic nutrition. We have two centers for therapeutic nutrition, and they have been bombed.”
