Al Daein, July 26(Darfur24)
Every morning, Abdul-Ilah Musa Mahmoud goes to collect firewood from the forest near the camp for displaced people in East Darfur, to help his displaced family manage their livelihood.
Mahmoud lives in the new Al-Manara camp for displaced people north of Al Daein, the capital of East Darfur State, after fleeing with his family from the city of El Fasher, which has been mired in a deadly conflict since last May between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces.
Abdul-Ilah told “Darfur24” that the battles and the continuous aerial bombardment by warplanes on the city of El Fasher forced him to flee to Al Daein, but he was faced with the reality of how to provide food for his family of 6 people, with limited job opportunities and high prices of food commodities, amidst the absence of humanitarian aid.
He pointed out that there are many cases of malnutrition in the camp, including the case of his 5-year-old son, explaining that he cannot afford a single meal consisting of lentils or leftover bread sold inside the camp.
Abdel-Ilah hopes that food prices, which have risen to record levels, will decrease given their limited income from clearing agricultural lands and plowing in areas that require 6 hours of walking to reach.
According to him, most of the displaced people work in marginal jobs in the market and farms, and some women work in homes in the neighborhoods.
He said that the price of a barrel of water has reached 2,500 Sudanese pounds, while the price of a sack of millet is 250,000 pounds, corn is 230,000 pounds, and a sack of sugar is 150,000 pounds.
For his part, a former official in the Humanitarian Aid Commission in East Darfur State, who preferred to remain anonymous, revealed to “Darfur 24” the poor conditions of the displaced in shelters and camps.
He said that the commission, before it was dissolved by a decision from the Rapid Support Forces, had identified 30,000 displaced people last January from Darfur and Khartoum states and provided some assistance in the field of environmental sanitation and a shared kitchen for meals.
He added: “The flow of displaced persons has not stopped since January, especially from El Fasher and other localities, and more than 100 people enter El Daein daily.
He confirmed the increase in the number of displaced persons in the cities of “Asalaya, Abu Karinka, El Fardous, Adila, Shaeria, Khazan Jadeed and Yass”, adding: “The real number of displaced persons in East Darfur reaches 70 thousand displaced persons or more.”
The representative of the displaced persons committee in the new El Manara camp, Ibrahim Hamid, confirmed to “Darfur 24” that about 100 baskets consisting of lentils, sugar and oil were distributed by the emergency room in El Daein city with a grant from the Norwegian Refugee Council, and targeted only 100 families.