Sudan’s Zamzam camp faces severe food shortage, MSF says

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said on Sunday there was a risk of a severe shortage of special food designed to treat malnourished children in Sudan’s North Darfur Zamzam camp for internally displaced people.

More than 15 months of war in Sudan between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have created the world’s biggest internal displacement crisis and left 25 million people — or half the population — in urgent need of humanitarian aid.

“Our teams only have enough therapeutic food to treat malnourished children in Zamzam camp, Sudan, for another two weeks,” MSF posted on X. It also said they had to limit treatment due to supply trucks being blocked by the RSF.

The RSF has said that it provides protection for aid convoys and that it is ready to cooperate with any aid agencies.

MSF said: “Without treatment, children with severe malnutrition are at risk of dying within three to six weeks.”

“Our three trucks bringing life-saving medical supplies — including therapeutic food — to Zamzam and El Fasher have been blocked in Kabkabiya for over a month by the RSF,” MSF said.

“The bed occupancy rate of our malnutrition ward is at 126 percent, indicating that many children are already in a critical condition,” the MSF said.

A global food monitor concluded in early August that war in Sudan had caused famine at Zamzam, adding that similar conditions may exist elsewhere in the region.