ALBAWABA - In one of the latest documented catastrophic tragedies recorded in Darfur, at least 110 people, including 66 children, have died of hunger, malnutrition, and lack of desperately needed medications in South Darfur’s Kalma camp.
Kalma Camp is one of the biggest camps in the world for displaced people, with more than 170,000 people taking refuge in it from various parts of Sudan.
Sheikh Ishag Abdallah, the commander of Kalma camp and head of the Darfur Displaced and Refugees General Coordination, told Radio Dabanga that in addition to the 66 children killed, 38 people and six pregnant women perished within a month.
He emphasized the terrible lack of food, relief, and job possibilities, warning that if food deliveries are not expedited, the situation will deteriorate. Kalma camp has been housing thousands of refugees over the years, with numbers rapidly rising since the war started in April 2023.
As the war continues to rage through Sudan, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), reported that at least 25 million people are in urgently require food and humanitarian aid across the country.
The UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, Alice Wairimu Nderitu, raised an alarm about the ongoing situation in Sudan. She said genocide is preceded by risk factors and indicators.
"This situation today bears all the marks of risk of genocide, with strong allegations that this crime has already been committed. Civilians are far from protected. Civilian populations are targeted on the basis of identity," she reported.
"In Darfur and El Fasher, civilians are being attacked and killed because of the color of their skin, because of their ethnicity, because of who they are. They are also targeted with hate speech and with direct incitement to violence," Nderitu told members of the UN Security Council on Tuesday.
She also added that horrifying testimonies were documented from refugees across Darfur, with many of them being from the Masalit tribe, where they described the vicious violence they were subjected to and outspokenly alluded to elements that could indicate explicit intent to destroy their particular ethnic group.
This report comes following another tragic report of the closure of the last functioning hospital in Al Jazirah state. Medical care charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) announced that it had been forced to close the only functional hospital after threats of targeting its active staff there.
The MSF called for the warring parties to ensure the safety of medical personnel and avoid violating health facilities in addition to granting the necessary travel permits for its staff and supplies.
The extremely difficult decision to leave Wad Madani, according to MSF, was made after more than three months of relentless difficulties in trying to provide medical care at the hospital.
