Air strikes hit famine-struck displacement camp in Sudan’s Darfur

Air strikes hit the Zamzam camp for displaced people in Sudan’s war-ravaged Darfur region, two organizations said Monday, days after an assessment found that “famine is ongoing” at the camp.

“Zamzam camp in Sudan was shelled for the 1st time on Sunday night,” medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) wrote on social media platform X.

It warned that “since the warring parties have already hit hospitals 10 times & do not spare civilians, there is a clear risk of bloodshed if it is hit again.”

The General Coordination for Refugees and Displaced, an independent Sudanese aid group, said the army used fighter jets to hit the camp.

It said the strikes “injured four children and destroyed 20 homes.”

Aid group Plan International had previously estimated that the camp population had swollen to half a million people due to fighting in the nearby city of El-Fasher, which is under siege by paramilitaries.

Fighting in Sudan erupted in April 2023 between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Tens of thousands of people have been killed and the country now faces the world’s largest displacement crisis, according to the United Nations.

Both sides have been accused of war crimes, including deliberately targeting civilians and blocking humanitarian aid.

A UN-backed assessment last week found that fighting has led to famine in Zamzam camp, with warnings that Sudan within months could see starvation exceeding that in Ethiopia in the 1980s.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) review, which is used by UN agencies, found that “famine is ongoing in July 2024 in Zamzam camp.”

“The main drivers of famine in Zamzam camp are conflict and lack of humanitarian access,” it said.

With the country plunged into what the UN called “one of the worst humanitarian crises in recent memory,” the vast majority of relief operations have been suspended due to the violence.

The International Criminal Court prosecutor said Monday that he hopes to seek arrest warrants soon for some of those responsible for the “nightmare” experienced by the population of Darfur.