Tawila, October 22 (Darfur24)
Hundreds of civilians from El Fasher continue to be displaced to Tawila, 55 kilometers west of the city, as they flee deteriorating security and dire living conditions caused by the siege imposed by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), about 1,070 people were displaced from El Fasher between Sunday and Monday. The organization stated that it continues to monitor developments and urged humanitarian agencies to intensify their response to meet the urgent needs of the displaced in North Darfur.
Adam Rijal, spokesperson for the Darfur Displaced Persons and Refugees Coordination Office, told Darfur24 that 346 families, comprising 1,298 people, have so far arrived in Tawila. He said most of the displaced are women, children, and elderly people who urgently need food, water, and shelter.
“The displaced are living in critical conditions, facing acute shortages of basic services including food, clean water, healthcare, and shelter materials,” Rijal said, adding that the situation remains tense and unstable.
Newly arrived displaced persons in Tawila told Darfur24 that food, drinking water, and medicine are scarce, and access to primary healthcare remains extremely difficult.
Mohammed Yousef Tor, who fled El Fasher with his family of nine, said they urgently need shelter and psychological support after being beaten and dragged on the road. He said it took six days to reach Tawila, during which his children suffered from severe malnutrition.
Another displaced woman, Halima Ismail, said most families are living in the open without protection from the cold or the sun, including infants only a few months old.
Meanwhile, Doctors Without Borders (MSF), which operates the rural hospital in Tawila, said more than 150 people were admitted last Sunday, including 49 women and 28 children under the age of 15.
MSF said in a statement that many patients arrived in a state of extreme exhaustion due to repeated attacks and deteriorating conditions in El Fasher. The organization has deployed ambulances at the entrance to Tawila to triage emergency cases and transport critically injured and malnourished patients to the hospital. Two additional tents were erected in the past 24 hours to accommodate the growing number of patients requiring urgent surgery.
MSF said it continues to operate at full capacity to provide medical care to the wounded and displaced amid the escalating humanitarian crisis in North Darfur.
According to IOM statistics from August, Tawila already hosts more than 600,000 displaced people from El Fasher and nearby villages, sheltering in camps and within the town’s neighborhoods.
The RSF controls all entrances and exits to El Fasher and is attempting to capture the last Sudanese army division remaining in Darfur, after seizing military divisions in Nyala, Zalingei, El Geneina, and El Daein