ISTANBUL

Over 1 million displaced people have arrived in two North Darfur towns in western Sudan since the start of a conflict between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese army in April 2023, as thousands more attempt to flee the RSF-controlled El-Fasher, according to a local emergency room report.

“The Tawila-Jebel Marra area faces a dangerous humanitarian situation as new waves of displacement continue to arrive in the area,” the Coordination Council of the Jebel Marra and Tawila Emergency Room said in a statement on Facebook.

In the past two days alone, over 30,000 people, most of them on foot, fled El-Fasher and traveled over 60 km to reach the nearby Tawila and Jebel Marra towns in search of safety, shelter, and basic assistance, according to the coordinator, Abdulhafeez Ali.

The International Organization for Migration said more than 36,000 people fled El-Fasher between Oct. 26 and 29.

“The region currently hosts more than 1 million displaced people who have arrived over the past months from different areas of the region, causing enormous pressure on limited resources and basic services,” the statement said.

According to the humanitarian situation report, as many as 750 children are suffering from varying severity of malnutrition, and 318 unaccompanied children require immediate psychological support.

Patients with chronic illnesses and 465 injured are in need of urgent treatment while the hospitals are at full capacity and lacking necessary medicines and emergency supplies.

The emergency room, which has been working in the field to coordinate urgent humanitarian response under a severe shortage of resources, called on the UN resident and humanitarian coordinator in Sudan to take immediate action and activate a multi-agency emergency response to support displaced families in Tawila and ensure the safe and rapid delivery of humanitarian aid.

It also called for the establishment of a safe transit hub for the displaced civilians along the El-Fasher-Tawila route.

“The humanitarian situation in Tawila and Jebel Marra requires an urgent and coordinated response to save lives and reduce the increasing suffering of displaced people in Tawila,” the statement added.

The RSF seized El-Fasher on Sunday following heavy clashes with the Sudanese army, the city that had been under siege by the rebel group since May 2024. Several local and international reports indicate mass killings, systematic ethnic cleansing, and torture of civilians by the rebel group in the city.

The army and the RSF have been locked in a civil war since April 2023. The conflict has killed thousands of people and displaced over 15 million.